Supervision And Teaching Of Handwriting

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SUPEEVISION AND TEACHING
OF HAND WRITING

Supervision and Teaching
of Handwriting :

By

JOSEPH S. TAYLOR

DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, NEW YORK

JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

COPTBIOHT, |1926
JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY

Printed and Bound in the
United States of America

L. H. J,

PREFACE

" There are always more people," says Walter
Lippmann, "interested in finding out who started
the fire than in helping the firemen. Therefore, the
saints are noticed on the editorial page, but the
devil is news. And generally men are more inter-
ested in fixing the blame than in fixing the trouble,"
This is the reason why complaints about the product
of our public schools occupy so much more space in
the press than constructive proposals for their im-
provement. This book is an attempt to help the
firemen. Never mind how bad the handwriting of
children is: advertising the faults won't cure them.
Here is an attempt to find out what is the current
practice of successful penmanship teaching and
supervision and what is the scientific warrant for
such practice. The author has gone over the prin-
cipal experimental studies in handwriting and has
endeavored to organize these results into usable
procedure for teachers and their supervisors. Sev-
eral excellent treatises on penmanship, scientific in
character, are already available; but the author
hopes that his emphasis upon supervision is suffi-
cient excuse for the publication of another book.

The measurement movement in education has a

5

6 PREFACE

tendency to express its findings in highly technical
language. " Technical words/' writes Hilaire Bel-
loc, "arise of themselves in any science or art, and
there is no force, even of a god, that could keep them
out. But that is only their genesis. Their true
use is to bamboozle and, my word, how well they
do it!" We teachers are children of a larger growth
and we find much of the stuff that comes to us out
of educational laboratories over our heads* We can
not use it until some one translates it into our ver-
nacular* I do not think investigators mean to
bamboozle, but, nevertheless, like Holmes's "Katy-
did," they often "say an undisputed thing in such
a solemn way." In penmanship, for instance, vast
resources of time and money and human energy
have been expended to prove what every writing
teacher knew long ago from personal experience.
It is something to have this experience confirmed by
scientific methods and expressed in technical terms;
but the teacher is properly resentful when he see a
bit of truth that he always knew strutting about in
the fine feathers of Professor Peacock. The writer
recently, in the course of some research work in
geography, ransacked the catalogue of a great uni-
versity library, and there fell upon a graduate
thesis on "the causal series in geography." It pur-
ported to be an original contribution. On reading
it, he discovered that it was what he had been in-

PREFACE 7

sisting on during all Ms supervisory career. No
wonder cynics like Belloc cry out, when they see
familiar vacuities decked out in pretentious tech-
nical language: " Having mastered the terms, any-
one whatsoever, though he be color-blind, cross-
eyed, and quite indifferent to proportion, can write
the very best art criticism in the world, For
criticism is good in proportion to the awe which it
excites. For the function of the critic is to criti-
cize that is, to pull the leg of the middle class."

An attempt has been made in this discussion to
express the conclusions of science in terms which
the average teacher understands. And this is not
done in a spirit of mockery. The author is not
making faces at the real discoverer of truth, who
must needs speak in the language of his trade; nor
is he belittling the intelligence of the class teacher
by insinuating that she cannot comprehend the
value and outcome of research. He is merely recog-
nizing the fact that the findings of the laboratory
are the raw material of method, and that there is
room for the educational middleman who works up
such material into usable form. The technician
stops at formulation, the third Herbartian step.
But the cycle of method is not complete until the
fourth step has been taken and the truth has been
put to work.

This is primarily a treatise on the supervision of

8 PREFACE

handwriting; but supervision involves teaching,
since every attempt to improve writing must of
necessity deal with methods of teaching the subject.
It was the author's original intention to deal with
supervision only, but he had not gone far in his
project before he realized that the precepts of the
supervisor command little respect unless they are
based upon laws of learning formulated by scientific
methods. Hence it was necessary to survey the
physiology and psychology of movement and the
laws of habit formation. These subjects are there-
fore treated in the earlier chapters. The formu-
lated conclusions are printed in a separate chapter
consisting of fifty propositions. The section on
method is based on these findings* Then follows
an exposition of, ^ the educational value of hand-
writing as an introduction to the discussion of
supervision.

The chapters on supervision are founded partly
upon experimental studies summarized in earlier
pages and'partly upon the returns from a question-
naire on supervision of handwriting addressed to
one hundred thirteen cities containing a population
of fifty thousand or more.

The author has been a district superintendent for
twenty-one years. During this period he has each
year evaluated the handwriting of all his classes in
literal terms and embodied these estimates in his

PREFACE 9

official reports. But in spite of this effort, progress
in penmanship has been unsatisfactory. One rea-
son for this is that it was impossible to compare
school with school and class with class in a con-
vincing way with only a subjective standard of
measurement. Therefore, in the spring of 1922, he
enlisted the services of our Bureau of Reference,
Research, and Statistics, to conduct a survey of the
handwriting in the district by means of a standard-
ized writing scale. A year later a second survey
was conducted by the Bureau after an effort on the
writer's part to bring the unsatisfactory schools
and classes up to standard.

"Owe no man anything but to love him," says
the Apostle. Such a debt is hereby acknowledged
to the many persons who have -assisted the author
in making the surveys discussed in this treatise.
First among these is Mr. Eugene A. Nif enecker, who
directed the technical aspects of the work. Next
come Mr. John L. Stenquist, Director of Educa-
tional Research in Baltimore public schools, and
Mr. George L. Hentz, District Superintendent of
Schools, New York, who were assistants of Mr.
Nif enecker and helped to train the scorers. Of other
members of Mr, Nifenecker's staff who did the
statistical work, the undersigned knows the name
of only one Mrs. Margaret R. Winterble but all of
them deserve praise and gratitude for the pains they

10 PREFACE

took to insure the scientific accuracy of the results.
It is a pleasure also to acknowledge the fine spirit of
cooperation shown by principals of schools, and by
teachers who voluntered to score the papers. Helpful
criticisms were received from the following friends:
Dean John W. Withers, of the School of Education,
New York University; Dr. David B. Corson, Super-
intendent of Schools, Newark, N. J,; Dr. Lizzie E.
Rector, District Superintendent, New York; Dr.
Edward W. Stitt, Associate Superintendent, New
York; Dr. Francis H. J. Paul, Principal of DeWitt
Clinton High School, New York. To all and sundry,
thanks!

JOSEPH S. TAYLOR

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE 5

I THE PHYSIOLOGY OP HANDWRITING . . . . 19
Three Stages of Writing

1. The receptive or imitative stage ... 19

2. The formative or character stage . . 19

3. The confirmed or settled handwriting

stage 19

A Complex Problem 20

The Writing Movement , 20

1* Factors

(1) Finger movement 21

(2) Forward movement 21

(3) Various combinations of finger

and arm movements .... 21

(4) Vertical writers use finger move-

ment . . , 22

(5) Pronation 22

2. Codrdination of movements 23

3, Diffusion of movements ...... 24

What Movement is Most Efficacious? ... 26

1. Degree of pronation ........ 27

2. Support of the hand 27

3. Angle of arm with base line 28

4. Relation of finger and thumb on pen-

holder - . 28

5. Looseness of grasp of penholder ... 28
Whole-Arm Movement 29

11

12 CONTENTS

JPAGB

Kind of Movement in the Primary Grades . 29

1. Movement and age 31

2. Movement and quality 32

3. Movement and speed , 32

Rhythm 33

1. Rhythm and age 35

2. Rhythm and quality 35

3. Rhythm and speed 35

The Slant of Writing 37

The Natural Slant 38

II THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING .... 41

Voluntary Movement 41

Unconscious Imitation * 43

Use of a Copy 40

Sensory Control in Movement , 48

Handwriting as Habit 49

1. Simplifies movements 49

2* Makes for accuracy 49

3. Reduces fatigue 49

4* Follows the laws of habit formation , 50

(1) Launch a strong initiative . . 50

(2) Suffer no exception 51

(3) Act on every resolution , . . . 52

Graphology
1. Its Elements

(1) A form of dramatic expression * 53

(2) Of central origin 58

(3) Certain elements cannot be dis-

guised. . . * , 64

(4) Variability a sign of character. . 54

CONTENTS 13

PAGE

2. Graphological Methods

(1) Analogy 64

(2) Psychological principles . ... 54

(3) Empirical observation .... 54

(4) Intuition 55

(5) Experimental 55

(6) Pathological writing 55

3. The Graphologist and the Scientific

Investigator
Significance of size

(1) Graphological 56

(2^ Mechanical 57

(3) Pathological 57

(4) Experimental ....... 57

School Intelligence and Handwriting ... 58

PBINCIPLES DEDUCED . . 60

1, From Physiology 60

2. From Psychology . . , 64

METHOD IN HANDWRITING 67

Materials of Writing

1. Seat . 67

2, Desk 67

3* Pen and ink 67

4. Paper . 68

5. Ruling 68

6. Position 69

7* Penholding 69

Other Essential Steps

1. Steps of the recitation 70

2. Blackboard writing of the teacher . . 71

3. Practicing wrong forms . 71

14 CONTENTS

PAGE

The Writing of the Youngest Pupils

1. When to begin 71

2. Fundamental to accessory 72

3. Form of the movements 76

4. When shall we use ink? 76

Writing in the Higher Grades

1. Drills . . . . 77

2. Motivation , . 77

3* Speed and quality 78

4. Remedial instruction 79

5. Sex in writing 79

6. Time element in writing ...... 80

7. Left-handed children 81

8. Group teaching , * 82

Teaching Illiterates How to Write

Lesson I. Writing by Tracing 84

Lesson II* Writing from Copy 86

Lesson III. Writing from Memory Ap-
plication. . * * 86

Departmental Teaching 86

V EDUCATIONAL VALUES OF HANDWRITING. , * 87

1. Utilitarian value 89

2. Conventional value 93

3. Disciplinary value 93

4. Subjective or interpretative value ... 96

5. Ethical value 96

6. Time value 96

VI THE SUPERVISION OF HANDWRITING .... 99

The Need of Supervision 99

Is the Technical Supervisor of Handwriting
Necessary? 106

CONTENTS 15

PAGE

An Experiment in the Supervison of Hand-
writing 108

The Technical Supervisor Indispensable * . 110

Significance of the Principal's Attitude . . 115

The Course of Study 116

Motivation 119

Training the Teachers 122

1. Who gives the lesson? 123

2. Query 123

Movement Drills . 124

Objections (1-6) 126

State Manuals 127

1. The New Jersey Manual 127

2. The Massachusetts Manual 129

3. The Ohio Manual 129

VII THE SUPBBVISION OF HANDWBITINO (Con-
tinued) 132

The Measurement of Handwriting

1. Unreliability of teachers' marks . . . 132

2. The pioneer 134

3. The Ayres Scale . 135

4. Johnson and Stone Scale 135

5. Breed and Downs Scale ...... 136

6. The Freeman Scale .136

7. The New York Scale . 136

8. Gray's Score Card 137

9. Classification of scales according to 1

use 138

10. Relative value of scales ....... 140

11. What is a reasonable standard? . . . 140

12. The final standard 143

16 CONTENTS

PAGE

VIII AN EXPERIMENT IN SUPERVISION 145

1. Scope of tests 145

2. Character of tests 146

3. General district results 146

(1) Results in form 146

(2) Rate of writing 150

4. Summary of conclusions (110) .... 150

5. Object of the tests 153

6. Remedial measures 156

(1) Objective standard 156

(2) A definite and attainable goal . - 157

(3) Devices 159

7. The second survey 162

8. Summary of inferences ,..,*..* 168

IX TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 174

BIBLIOGRAPHY 181

INDEX 187

SUPERVISION AND TEACHING
OF HANDWRITING

CHAPTER I

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF HANDWRITING

Three Stages of Writing. Ellsworth (15), * with
some show of reason, divides the practice of writing
into the following three stages :

1. The receptive or imitative stage, wherein the
learner merely copies or imitates the forms, com-
binations, and movements set before him. This
stage is adapted to childhood, when the imitative
instinct is strongest, the habits are rudimentary,
and the exercise of all bodily functions is pleasur-
able; say, from five years of age to ten.

2. The formative or character stage, wherein the
learner adapts and assimilates those forms and
methods which appeal to him and incorporates
them into habits. This period is between eight
and fifteen.

3. The confirmed or settled handwriting stage, when
the learner expresses his own taste, judgment, tem-
perament, and individuality. This may extend
from fifteen to twenty-five or thirty.

The elementary school deals only with the first
and second of these stages. That is, at least half
of the writing time in the common school is taken

* The figures in. parentheses refer to the bibliography on. page 181,

19

20 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

up in imitating correct forms and movements in
an effort to impress the forms permanently upon
the child's mind and to make the movements auto-
matic. In the grammar grades the free writing
gradually increases in quantity and the copy writing
decreases.

A Complex Problem. The art of writing, though
apparently so simple and easy after it has been
mastered, is in reality a very complex and difficult
problem, as one may infer from the fact that the
child devotes eight years of school life to it and
then frequently passes on with the task only half
completed. The process may be divided into
various elements, such as materials, position, move-
ment, speed, legibility, slant, and rhythm, each of
which is capable of subdivision into many parts or
steps. When the writing abilities of the children
are analyzed, it is found that each child differs from
every other in the class, and is therefore a specific
problem for the teacher. Not only do children
differ in specific abilities, but they differ in their
manner of reacting to instruction and in their rate
of developing through practice. For all these rea-
sons the teaching of writing presents formidable
difficulties even to the most expert of teachers. To
the inexpert it remains an insoluble riddle.

The Writing Movement Doctor Javal (32) was one
of the first investigators to show what actually hap-

OF HANDWRITING 21

pens in the arm and hand when one is writing. By
means of a bracelet attached to the wrist and a ring
slipped on the little finger, pencils being attached
to the bracelet and ring, he was able to show the
movements of the forearm and of the hand during
the process of writing.

Acting upon the hint thus furnished by Javal,
Dr. Charles H. Judd (35) carried the experiment
much further and analyzed very completely the
movements of the fingers, hand, forearm, and the
whole arm during the writing process. Without
taking time to describe these investigations in de-
tail, it will be well to consider briefly the conclu-
sions he reached.

1. Factors. In order to understand the difficul-
ties encountered by the child in "learning to write,
it is profitable to know the factors that are involved
in the completed writing habit of the adult. Among
the physiological elements are the following:

(1) In the ordinary so-called finger movement in
writing, the hand takes part very slightly in the
formation of the letters, but participates in the
forward movement across the page.

(2) The forward movement performed by the
hand is itself a compound motion, made partly by
the hand from its own center at the wrist and partly
by the arm from the elbow as a center.

(3) The experiments show that writers fall natu-

22 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

rally into types represented by a preponderance of
finger or hand movement. In some cases the line
traced by the movement of the hand across the
page is almost unbroken, showing that the fingers
perform nearly all the work. From this extreme
there are found all grades of approach to the oppo-
site extreme where the writer has trained himself
to make no use whatever of the fingers.

(4) In all the cases investigated, vertical writers
showed a preponderance of finger movement.

(5) There is a third movement of the hand which
is known by physiologists as pronation. It con-
sists in revolving the hand and arm about the elbow
as a pivot. This is done in order to maintain the
uniformity of slant in the writing when the elbow is
in a fixed position.

Dr. Judd explains the necessity, effect, and
habit of pronation at great length. To test the mat-
ter for myself I asked a specialist in penmanship
recently to write some lines in my presence* I
discovered that this gentleman had entirely elimi-
nated from his habit the element of pronation. On
being questioned in regard to the matter, he ex-
plained that he frequently required his pupils to
write with a penny on the back of the hand to
facilitate the inhibition of the movement here
called pro&atiojcu On further investigation it was
found that this gentleman ^presents the type of

OF HANDWRITING 23

writers that make very little use of finger move-
ments. They maintain the uniformity of slant
by moving the entire arm forward, instead of
revolving the forearm about the elbow as a pivot

2. Coordination of movements. The pregnant fact
revealed by this investigation is not that writing
involves different kinds of movements, but that
many different kinds of movements are performed
simultaneously. In physiology such compound
movements are called coordination.

There are two kinds of coordinated movements,
voluntary and involuntary. Many involuntary
coordinations are complete when the child is born.
Such are the movements involved in breathing and
swallowing. These are controlled by nerve centers
which work automatically. The seat of voluntary
coordination, on the other hand, is in the brain.
Muscles cannot move themselves. Each one is
connected with a nerve which carries an impulse
from the brain. When a voluntary movement is
to be made, the Ego issues the fiat from the execu-
tive department of the brain, which we call the
motor area, and then messages are sent to the
muscles to contract or relax. A coordinated move-
ment requires many different kinds of muscles to
act in harmony. Each one must therefore, receive*
an impulse of a certain kind and strength at exaetly
the right moment, if the combined results of all the

24 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

contractions and relaxations are to constitute a
perfectly balanced and successful movement. What
a tedious and complicated process it is to organize
such coordinations may be inferred from the awk-
ward efforts of an infant when he tries for the first
time to grasp an orange or to walk.

Applying these facts to writing, we see at once
where the difficulty is. Writing is a very complex
coordination of muscles of the voluntary kind.
The fingers have to move to shape the letters.
The hand moves in sympathy with the fingers more
or less. At the same time it describes an arc from
the wrist as a center, and another arc from the elbow
as a center, Finally it performs a rotary motion
with the elbow as a pivot. A characteristic of
children's writing, as Judd remarks (35:223), is
that these "additional arm movements are made
by the child, not as well coSrdinated additions to
finger movements, but rather as separate and
clumsy interruptions of the finger movement."

3. Diffusion of movements. Another important
fact in the physiology of writing is what is known
as the diffusion of movements* A child's brain is
provided with elements which make it possible to
perform millions of different kinds of movement* At
birth a child's brain is a mass of potentialities, He
begins at once to make random movements of
many kinds, but no coSrdinated movements except

OP HANDWRITING 25

such as are involuntary. When, after many trials,
he succeeds in getting a group of muscles to act in
harmony for the achievement of a definite purpose,
as, for example, grasping an object offered to him,
we say he has organized that movement. In his
effort to organize a movement, he has to make
many trials before he energizes just the right mus-
cles to the proper degree. His efforts may be
compared to those of a poor marksman in trying to
hit the center of a target placed against a barn
door. At the end of the trial it will be found that
the bullets are scattered all over the side of the
barn, and very few have hit the target at all. The
shooting is of the diffuse kind. Perhaps as safe a
position as any for the spectator is in front of the
target.

So when a child is organizing a movement, "the
regular lines of connection necessary for coordina-
tion have not yet been laid down. An impulse is
free to wander about and shoot out at this point
or at the other in a very irregular and uncoordinated
fashion" (35:221). In learning to write the pupil
energizes a great many muscles not needed in the
process. tc While the finger writing goes on, the
hand and arm are all the time, through the diffusion
of the stimulation, kept tense and ready to move.
Not only the writing arm is diffusely contracted,
but the other arm also is having its part in the

26 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

agony of effort.' 7 The pen is clutched as if it
weighed twenty pounds, the face is contracted, the
head is drawn down until the nose almost touches
the pen point. These are all perfectly natural
consequences of the diffusion of movements* "Na-
ture attacks her problems of development by
producing more than she needs and then picking
out the best. Development means the selection of
the right movements out of a total mass of diffuse
movements."

What Movement is Most Efficacious? Mr. Frank N.
Freeman (23:253; 21) conducted a very important
series of experiments to determine what kind or
combination of movements is most efficacious. He
notes a widespread dogma "that arm movement, or
so-called muscular movement, is a superior method
of writing, and that writing should be taught by
emphasizing this arm movement by giving exer-
cises which develop it, and fixing the child's atten-
tion upon it. ... Scientific evidence refutes it
almost completely."

THE PKOBLEM STATED

Mr, Freeman set himself the task of examining
the .current assumptions as to the necessity and
prevalence of arm movement in good writing. The
subjects chosen included fifty children and adults.
The children were from the Chicago University

fO F HANDWRITING 27

Elementary School and the Ray School of the public
school system. The University children had not
received specialized training in handwriting, while
the Ray children had been drilled regularly in an
arm movement system of writing. From these two
schools children were selected who represented the
extremes of good and poor writing. The adults
were also selected so as to represent good and poor
writers. Among the good writers were several pro-
fessional penmen, including Mr. C. P. Zaner, the
expert and author of a writing system.

The method employed undertook to determine
what the essentials of good writing are by com-
paring the behavior of good writers and poor
writers. Mr. Freeman mounted a kinetoscopie
camera over the hand of the writer which could be
speeded up to twenty-five exposures per second.
This gave a separate photograph of the hand every
twenty-fifth of a second, He first investigated a
group of details usually assumed to be essential in
writing, with the following findings:

1. Degree of pronation. He found very little
correspondence between this item and the quality
of the writing. Hence the old writing masters who
compelled their pupils to write with a penny on
the back of the hand were inflicting a needless
discomfort.

2. Support of the hand. More good writers than

28 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

poor writers support the hand on the third and
fourth fingers.

3. Angle of arm with base line. Good writers hold
the arm perpendicular to the line of writing more
frequently than poor writers.

4. Relation of finger and thumb on penholder. The
good writers usually grasp the pen in such a way
that the forefinger is below the thumb. Many poor
writers hold the finger opposite the thumb or above it.

5. Looseness of grasp of penholder. Good writers
grasp the penholder more loosely than poor writers.
This, of course, can be readily explained by the law
of diffusion of effort.

Another object of Mr. Freeman's experiment was
to analyze the composition of the writing move-
ment. His conclusions on this point are, briefly:

(1) There is no evidence that good writers use
more arm movement than poor writers.

(2) Good writers generally move more easily
along the line than poor ones.

(3) An important discovery is the matter of
speed changes. "The good writer divides the writ-
ing movement into a series of units, corresponding
to the natural units of form of letters, more radically
than does the poor writer."

(4) In good writing the letters are formed by &
combined movement of the fingers and arm in
which either element may predominate.

OF HANDWRITING 29

Whole-Arm Movement. From a report of a pen-
manship convention (52) we learn that there are
two alleged reasons why penmanship is not satis-
factory in California. One reason, so Mr. A. N.
Palmer stated at the Convention, is "that the rank
and file of grade teachers have not been trained in
the mechanics and pedagogy of the subject. The
other reason is ... that, because of the peculiar
whole-arm penmanship that is largely taught in
primary grades in California, pupils acquire incor-
rect habits and incorrect ideas ... in regard
to the motive power which should be used in con-
nection with handwriting. The habits acquired in
primary grades must be eradicated and new habits
acquired before even a start can be made toward
the development of a style of writing embodying

legibility, rapidity, ease, and endurance It

should be axiomatic that nothing should be taught
in any grade that cannot be carried advantageously
into the penmanship of another grade. 7 '

Kind of Movement in the Primary Grades. This
opens up a serious disagreement, even among scien-
tists, as to what kind of writing movement should
be taught in the primary grades. District Super-
intendent Lizzie E. Rector, who as principal first
successfully introduced the "muscular movement"
writing into a New York school, is of the opinion
that "early emphasis should be placed upon posi-

30 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

tion and movement. If correct position and free
movement are to be expected of the higher grades,
they must be demanded of pupils as soon as the
subject is begun. 77 She is of the further opinion
that we cannot successfully stress both form and
movement in the early grades; therefore we should
emphasize movement.

The New York course of study reverses this sug-
gested procedure and stresses form in the first two
grades, no movement drills being prescribed before
the second half of the second year.

The question raised here is discussed in the St.
Louis Survey by Professor Freeman (24)* He is
comparing the results of Grand Rapids and St.
Louis. In form both cities are below standard in
the lower grades. In speed both are above the
general average in most grades. Two kinds of prac-
tice are encountered, the writer says. In the one
case the children are encouraged to write with a
fairly high degree of speed, and a relatively low
standard of form is tolerated. In the other case
their attention is directed more largely to form,
and the speed is not so great, "It is argued in
support* of the one type of practice that the essen-
tial for the beginner in writing is to attain fluency
and the correct type of movement, and that the
form will develop after the proper movement habit
has been formed. * The contention in support of

OF HANDWRITING 31

the opposite practice is that the prime requisite at
the beginning is to develop the proper idea of the
form of letters and care in making them, and after
this is done speed will naturally develop," Mr.
Freeman leans to the opinion that the St. Louis and
New York plan of stressing form in the beginning
rather than speed and movement is desirable.

This opinion is based upon the findings of Mr.
Nutt, which Mr. Freeman reviews and quotes in
his own monograph (21). Nutt's investigation was
undertaken primarily to investigate rhythm, but
incidental discoveries concerning movement are
also recorded, which may be briefly summarized
thus:

1. Movement and age. Mr. Nutt does not distin-
guish between forearm and whole-arm movement;
but the tracer which measured the arm move-
ment was clamped to the hand. It is probable
that what was thus measured was forearm move-
ment. His table shows almost no arm movement
for ages seven and eight and no high degree of it
for any age up to fourteen. Mr. Freeman com-
ments: "These facts do not give any encourage-
ment to the view that the large majority of children
can be trained in exclusive arm movement writing.
They indicate, further, that if we do stress arm
movement we should do so from the ages of nine
or ten."

32 SUPERVISION AN|D TEACHING

2. Movement and quality. The quality was meas-
ured by both the Freeman and the Ayres scales*
Comparison of arm movement with quality shows
that "pupils who make high grades in quality do
not use a large amount of arm movement more
commonly than the poor writers."

3. Movement and speed. Considerable correla-
tion was found between arm movement and speed,
though the relation is not " nearly so close as is
commonly maintained by the advocates of this
method." All the very slow writers use finger
movement. On the other hand, many finger-
movement writers write with as great a speed as
any arm-movement writer.

In this connection we may refer to the innova-
tions of Mr. Harry Houston, of New Haven, and
Mr. E. C. Mills, of Rochester, both of whom have
discarded the oval and push-pull drill exercises*

Arm movement is secured by writing the letters
an inch or more in height, and then gradually
grading the writing down to normal size. It is
evident that by this procedure form and movement
are stressed at the same time and in equal degree*
A controlled experiment to test the efficacy of the
method of these supervisors should be undertaken
at once by some competent investigator,

The movement introduced for practice by these
two men is always a definite movement made in

OF HANDWRITING 33

imitation of a letter pattern. It is copy writing
just as much as the old copy-book exercises. It
differs from ordinary writing chiefly in that it
employs the muscles of the forearm rather than
those of the fingers and wrist. It requires quite as
much concentration of effort as finger writing.
When we speak of freedom of movement we mean
merely that the writing is done by the muscles of
the forearm rather than those of the fingers. The
object of movement exercises is to develop the
same accuracy for the larger muscles of the arm
that we possess in the smaller ones of the hand.
The form or model is just as important in the one
case as in the other. The object in each case is to
impress the model accurately and deeply upon the
memory; the drill of writing it many times serves
merely to add muscular memory to visual memory.
And if we practice the copy long and faithfully the
muscular memory will become so perfect that the
writing becomes automatic. Drill without careful
reference to correct form is just like committing to
memory wrong forms in language, or false state-
ments in history, geography, and science. The
vulgar slang picked up by children on the street is
analogous to the hideous scrawl of those who have
been drilled in movement exercises without refer-
ence to form.
Rhythm. Rhythm in handwriting as defined by

34 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

Freeman is "the relative duration of the successive
strokes or units of movement." In order to em-
phasize rhythm in movement teachers are accus-
tomed to count while children write, or to use words
which describe the direction of the movement; as,
for example, in drills in capital M, the words might
be u higher stroke over down over down over down
under"

The most important investigation of rhythm
published to date is that of Mr. H. W. Nutt (49).
By means of an apparatus especially designed for
the experiment, an extended tracing of the writing
is taken on a moving strip of paper by means of a
typewriter ribbon which travels between this
moving strip and a sheet upon which the writing is
done* The speed of the moving strip is measured
by means of an electric vibrator which traces a
broken line on it* Thus the original writing can be
compared with the tracing, and by this means the
location of the pen point at successive intervals on
the original writing is indicated, as in the case of a
moving-picture record. Mr* Nutt secured records
in word writing only. At the same time the relar
tive amount of hand and finger movement was
measured by means of a hand tracer*

Mr. Nutt's object was to secure facts concerning
the correlation of rhythm with other factors of
handwriting. Records were obtained of 273 chil~

OF HANDWRITING 35

dren living in five cities: Kansas City, Topeka,
Winfield (Kansas), Mattoon (111.), and Grand
Rapids. They were chosen to represent equal
numbers of the ages from seven to fourteen. Fol-
lowing are the conclusions in brief :

1. Rhythm and age. It is shown that rhythmic
movement increases naturally with age.

2. Rhythm and quality. No evidence of cor-
relation between rhythm and the quality of the
writing appears in Mr* Nutt's tables. Professor
Freeman says " there may be, however, certain
advantages in rhythmical writing, and these may
be offset by disadvantages. . . . This matter
recalls the other characteristic of mature writing
which has already been mentioned" continuous-
ness of the movement "which, when it is devel-
oped ahead of the writer's control, is unfavorable
in its effect on the form." In other words, just
as speed may be developed at the expense of form
as was the case in my own district so rhythmic
movement associated with speed does not neces-
sarily produce good form,

3. Rhythm and speed. Nutt found that rhythm
shows a decided correlation with speed, "and it
resembles speed in that an extreme degree of it is
probably unfavorable to form."

Mr. West (71) has also made an interesting contri-
bution to our knowledge of rhythm in handwriting*

36 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

He opens Ms discussion by calling attention to the
fact that Freeman and Nutt, in their investigations,
have shown that rhythm in writing " increases with
age and is assisted by increase of speed/' but that "it
is not correlated with good f orm, in fact has a tendency
to interfere with quality in certain cases." These in-
vestigators, he says, have arbitrarily defined rhythm
"as a simple uniformity in duration of strokes. "

The experiments of West were undertaken "to
gain specific information regarding rhythm as
related to the penmanship of good and poor writers
of both adult and child groups. n The first type of
experiment undertook to measure "the amount of
time spent on the stroke, and the rest at the ter-
minus of the stroke." The second experiment em-
ployed a photographic method "by means of which
the actual writing process was analyzed in terms of
distance covered during each fiftieth of a second.' *

The results seem to show that;

(1) The better adult writers maintain a slightly
superior record of regularity.

(2) The arm is more easily adapted to natural
rhythmic movement than the fingers.

(3) Poor adult writers are less accurate when a
rhythmic beat is imposed than good ones.

(4) The use of a rhythmic guide in penmanship
instruction must be carefully supervised and scien*
tifieally directed.

OF HANDWRITING 37

(5) Rhythm is not thoroughly adaptable to the
process of writing words, but may be used in simple
movement drills.

The Slant of Writing. Some twenty-five years ago
the writer studied school hygiene at Clark Univer-
sity under Professor Burnham. At that time Ger-
many was the leader in scientific investigations and
treatises on this subject. The prevalence of myopia
and curvature of the spine among school children
led to many studies in Europe which revealed the
fact that the malposition of children during the writ-
ing period corresponded with permanent defects
of eyes and spine.

It was ascertained by one commission that
twenty per cent of boys and forty per cent of girls
had one shoulder higher than the other; while
ninety per cent of spinal curvature was found to
be developed during school life. Similar facts were
discovered concerning myopia. Spinal defects were
traced to the collapsed position in writing, which,
in addition to these injuries, inflicts others that
affect the general health by retarding the circula-
tion, improperly filling the lungs with air, etc.
The characteristics of myopia correspond closely
with the asymmetrical position of the eyes in
writing. These disclosures were then employed to
prove that vertical script was the only hygienic
writing possible. Many other assumed virtues

38 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

were ascribed to it. Some claimed that it was the
natural style, others that it was more beautiful or
more rapid, or that it occupied twenty per cent less
space than slant writing. Questionnaires were
issued and on the basis of the returns the claim was
made that business men preferred vertical to slant.
The argument ended with the slogan: The body
straight, the paper straight, the writing straight!

In New York the slant of the writing had never
been officially prescribed. The supply list always
contained copy books representing all styles and
theories, and principals were free to select from the
list whatever st^le they preferred. This liberty
was a serious detriment to the writing of the chil-
dren. A child was likely to encounter a new style
of writing every time he was transferred from one
school to another. Teachers were complaining
everywhere that they found great difficulty in
teaching penmanship. The average class could
show every possible slant from backhand to the
Spencerian slant. Sometimes a pupil would illus-
trate all these slants in a single line of writing*
Lack of uniformity in the slant makes writing il-
legible and ugly. Hence, our crying need was a
uniform style for the entire city, which, however,
was not required until twenty years later.

The Natural Slant. In the period referred to
above very little scientific work had been done on

OF HANDWRITING 39

the writing movement. Science had concerned
itself up to that time chiefly with the hygienic point
of view. The writing masters, the public, and the
school authorities expended much energy in a vio-
lent debate on the relative merits of vertical and
slant. In this controversy the stock arguments on
both sides were little more than personal or group
opinion. Smith preferred vertical writing because
he liked it. Jones voted for slant for the same
reason. It reminded one of Lincoln's saying: "For
people who like that kind of thing, that is just the
kind of thing they will like."

In 1900 Mr. Cloyd N. McAllister (42) made a
study of "the best slope for writing," His conclu-
sions may be summarized thus:

1. A slant of 48 permits the most rapid writing.

2. The hand acquires a slope that is farther re-
moved from the vertical than the model used as a
copy, a child usually deviating 10.

3. The greater the slant to the right the more
rapid will be the writing.

4. A slant of about 75 permits legible writing,
but as the angle decreases below 70 the legibility
decreases rapidly.

5. A base line is desirable to guide the eye in
writing across the page. Other lines cause the
child to give more attention to spacing and height
(ban to form and movement.

40 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

6. As to size, each pupil should be permitted to
use that which is natural to him.

7. Children, in first learning to write, use the finger
and wrist movements, which produce small writing.

8. The full-arm movement, with elbow resting
on the desk, is much more rapid than finger or
wrist movement.

9. The finger and wrist movements permit round
forms of letters, which are more legible, but require
sixteen per cent more time than full-arm movement
with rest.

10. Neither kind of movement should be used
exclusively.

11. For small children much attention should be
given to arm movement. For this training the
brush may be used to prevent the firm grip and pro-
mote free movement.

12. Backhand writing is slow and difficult.
These results suffice to show that vertical script

is not natural for a child, nor is it the most rapid.
Consequently, when children left school and were
compelled to write rapidly, they Were unable to keep
on writing vertically. They were therefore com-*
pelled to form a new set of coordinations and to
break up the old habits. The result was disastrous
and was responsible for the atrocious handwriting
which finally led to the adoption of the present
system of so-called " muscular movement" writing*

CHAPTER II

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HANDWRITING

Writing is a psychophysical process. It is there-
fore difficult to make a clear distinction between
the physiological and the psychological factors,
since any act of writing involves both. For the
sake of clearness in exposition we may, however,
make the logical division here employed. We
know that there can be no psychosis without the
corresponding neurosis, although there may be
physiological acts that do not involve mind, as, for
instance, when a headless frog swims or responds to
a stimulus. The mental and the physical elements
are like the obverse sides of a coin. To know the
coin both sides must be examined and for conveni-
ence we may study one side at a time.

From the point of view of subject matter hand-
writing is one of the manual arts and is primarily
a form of motor training. The psychology of
writing is therefore the psychology of voluntary
movement and habit.

Voluntary Movement* Voluntary movement grows
out of the various forms of involuntary move-
ment, which have been classified as impulsive, re-
flex, and imitative. Countless movements of these

41

42 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

sorts leave their records in memory and when,
finally, the nervous mechanism of voluntary muscu-
lar control is sufficiently matured, the child has the
images of how it feels to make certain definite
coordinations, and these guide the will in issuing
the necessary fiat for the imitation of the move-
ments desired,

" Writing, which is essentially a coordinated
movement, has to be developed through trial after
trial, with consciousness directed, not upon the
movement itself, but on the visual images which
appear as results of the movement. What one is
thinking of is not the movement at all, but visual
images" (35). This process involves memory and
imagination and judgment. In writing from a
copy the pupil glances at the model, gets a visual
image of the form he wishes to make, then makes a
coordinated movement which he thinks will pro-
duce the form desired. While he is watching the
product of his pen, he compares the form he makes
with the image of the model which he carries in
his memory. If he writes slowly, he may glance at
the model and at the pen point alternately several
times while he is writing a single letter* If the
space between the line he is writing and the model
is great, the memory of the form is proportionately
imperfect and the product of the writing defective.
To facilitate the process of imitation, therefore,

OF HANDWRITING 43

the model should be as close to the line of writing
as possible. To " learn" to write a letter means to
fix the image of its appearance permanently in the
memory, and to associate this image by many acts
of repetition with the muscular image of writing
it. When all the letters are thus associated
thoroughly in the various combinations which
occur in written discourse, entire syllables
and words will become " organized " as unitary
coordinations. When this is accomplished, a mini-
mum of attention is sufficient to discharge the series
of motor impulses which result in a written word.
Writing has now become automatic, and hence-
forth the mind can attend to what is written and the
nerve centers will attend to how the writing is
accomplished.

Unconscious Imitation. Professor Daniel Starch
(62) reports an interesting experiment on
"Unconscious Imitation in Handwriting 7 ' which
has a significant bearing on the teaching of pen-
manship. The problem is formulated in the fol-
lowing terms:

To what extent, if at all, is a person's normal handwriting
modified by a model of script seen during the process of writing?
Will a person who habitually writes a slanting script uncon-
sciously make his letters more vertical when he writes from a
vertical copy? And will a person who ordinarily writes a
vertical hand unconsciously make the letters more slanting
when he writes from a slanting copy?

44 SUPEEVISION AND TEACHING

The experimenter gave to each of 106 students of
psychology in the University of Wisconsin a set of
five leaves, as follows:

L Directions to the student

2. A short paragraph of typewritten material

3. A paragraph of vertical script

4. A paragraph of slanting script

5. A paragraph of unusually large script

Not a word was said about imitation. Ostensibly
the experiment was for the purpose of securing a
specimen of handwriting. After the writing was
finished only two said they had tried to imitate
the writing of the copy. Their records were ex-
cluded. The majority had no opinion as to the pur-
pose of the experiment,

RESULTS

The object of the typewritten model was to secure
the normal handwriting of each subject for com-
parison. Slant was measured first, with these aver-
age results for the group as a whole:

1. Change from normal to vertical. . . , . 3.7

2. Change from normal to slant ,....,.*.,, ,3 . 8

3. Totalrange of change 7,3

The class was then divided into three groups:
Vertical writers, extremely slanting, and a slant be-

OF HANDWRITING 4=5

tween the other two. The average results of ver-
tical writers were as follows :

1. Average inclination of normal 85.2

2. Average inclination of copy from vertical 87 . 1

3. Average inclination of copy from slant 79 . 2

Vertical writers were influenced more by slant
than by vertical. The extremely slanting writers
showed these results :

1. Average inclination of normal writing 50.4

2. Average inclination of copy from vertical 53 . 8

3. Average inclination of copy from slant 48 . 1

Slanting writers were influenced more by vertical
than by slant. The moderately slanting writers
had these averages :

1. Inclination of normal 62. 6

2. Inclination of copy from vertical 67.4

3* Inclination of copy from slant 60.0

These were influenced more by vertical than by
slant.

There was also a sex difference which is interest-
ing and significant. There were in the class 28 men
and 75 women. The comparison of their results is
shown in this table:

Men Women

1. Average change from normal to-

ward vertical 4 3.8

2. Average change from normal to-

ward slant 2 3.7

3. Entire range of change 6 7.5

46 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

The influence of the two models upon women was
25 per cent greater than that upon men.

The size of the model had also an unconscious
influence upon these writers, as shown in the fol-
lowing table :

Average width of letters in normal writing.. .4.33 mm.
Average width of letters in copy from large
model 4 . 85 mm.

The average width of letters in the large model
was 6 mm. The large model had the effect of in-
creasing the size of normal writing by 12 per cent.

Use of a Copy. This interesting experiment of Pro-
fessor Starch explains certain well-known facts
about the use of a copy. It explains, in the first
place, why children make little progress in penman-
ship under a teacher whose handwriting is poor.
It emphasizes the absolute necessity of requiring
teachers to qualify as experts in the kind of hand-
writing they are expected to teach. Yet it is only
within a few years that training schools for teachers
made any provision for equipping their students
with this necessary skill. And of the teachers now
in the service, how many are expert writers? Per-
haps not more than fifty per cent. Need we wonder
why penmanship teaching is unsatisfactory?

The experiment in unconscious imitation explains
abo why, in writing a copy, each successive line is
less and lesB like the original copy. We used to have

OF HANDWRITING 47

copy books with ten or a dozen lines, and only one
copy at the top of the page. When the pupil had
finished a page, one could see a regular gradation
downward, the last line being little better than a
scrawl. The pupil had unconsciously imitated his
own writing instead of the copy on the top line.

The copy books now in use are an improvement
upon the old style. They have fewer blank lines,
and frequently the copy is on a slip which is moved
down on a sheet of paper as the writing progresses.
Thus the imperfect copy of the pupil is covered, and
only the standard copy is in view.

In my own district no paper copy is used at all.
The lesson is written on the blackboard in the pres-
ence of the children. They thus obtain a visual
image of the movements involved. If they are
drilled in "air writing/ 5 they add to the visual
image a muscular image. We have therefore de-
veloped kinaesthetic ideas of movement and visual
memories of form and movement before the child
touches paper with pen,

Miss Mary E. Thompson (66) thinks the copy
book may profitably be used as a corrective of form,
"as the dictionary is the standard consulted when
one is in doubt about the spelling of words." But
she says the best form of practice is the life form,
or the expressing of one's own thoughts in writing
while thinking. Most writing masters will agree

48 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

that the application of writing in correlation with
other subjects is the real test of the success of the
writing teacher; but if Miss Thompson means that
a pupil may become expert in penmanship merely
by doing written exercises in the content subjects
and without formal drills as such in handwriting,
I for one disagree. This is the old doctrine of " inci-
dental learning" which the famous Committee of
Ten invented years ago. We have not yet recov-
ered from the blighting influence of that pernicious
doctrine.

Sensory Control in Movement. We have already
called attention to the fact that writing is volun-
tary movement, but that when we write, what we
think of is not movement at all, but visual images.
"If we introspect an act of writing we shall find
that we never look at the movements of our fingers,
but at the letters just written; and yet, if we watch
some one else write, we will find that the eyes move
but little and do not follow the form of each letter,
but seem to keep track in general of where he is, to
preserve the alignment and spacing, to keep an
equality in the letters, and to avoid losing his way
when in the midst of a word and so misspell it."
Hence we conclude, says Woodworth, "that inform-
ing the letters we come to depend mostly on the
muscular and tactile sensibility. ... In short, it
may be said that the general and coordinating con-

OF HANDWRITING 49

trol necessary in making one line equal to another
is left entirely to the eye when that is used" (66).
Handwriting as Habit. When we consider the phys-
iological aspect of writing, we call it ''organizing
a movement." When we think of the mental side,
we call it habit formation. Concerning the value
of habit as a basis of practical teaching, modern
psychologists have given us many useful hints.
Habit, as Mr. Bryan (7) reminds us, does the fol-
lowing things:

1. Simplifies movements by eliminating useless
motions. Diffusion of effort involves a great loss
of energy and results in unsuccessful movements.
When a child first learns to write, he energizes a
great many muscles not needed in the process.
After writing has been made automatic, only the
necessary muscles are used,

2. Makes for accuracy. While the child is self-
consciously trying to get a group of muscles to act
in harmony the resulting movement is always crude
and inaccurate. This is one of the reasons why the
early attempts at writing are so unsuccessf ul. Even
if the pupil correctly sees the form he is trying to
imitate, he is unable to make his muscles execute
his intention. Only by long practice is he able to
reduce the process to habit and to achieve complete
success.

3. Reduces fatigue. Diffuseness in movement is

50 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

tiresome because of the needless expenditure of
energy. The young writer grips his penholder and
holds many of the larger muscles of the body taut
that are not concerned in the movement at all.
Hence he soon tires. Habit corrects this overuse
of energy and thus reduces fatigue. Conscious con-
trol of muscles requires attention. Habit hands the
movement over to the lower centers and takes it out
of consciousness. Walking is a very serious busi-
ness to a child who is just learning how to do it.
To the adult it is so nearly automatic that he can
dodge automobiles and carry on a conversation at
the same time.

4. Follows the laws of habit formation. Since
writing is mentally a process of habit formation,
it is important to keep in mind the laws of that very
important function. William James enumerates
three of these laws. As quoted from. Professor
Bain, they apply to moral habits only; but actually
they apply to the formation of any habit, hand-
writing included.

(1) The first law of habit is: We must launch our-
selves with as strong and decided an initiative as pos-
sible. "Accumulate all the possible circumstances
which shall reinforce the right motives. ... In
short, envelop your resolution with every aid you
know." This opens up the question of motivating

OF HANDWRITING 51

writing drills. Innumerable devices have been em-
ployed for this purpose, e. g. :

(a) Plot the individual scores of children and let
them follow their own progress.

(b) Charters suggests a "writing hospital' 7 to
which pupils are sent until they are convales-
cent (10).

(c) Stone (63) has a plan which puts all pupils
of the school into four groups for the writing lesson.
The groups are the average, above the average, be-
low the average, and the exempt.

(d) Have the pupil understand that the real test
oJ his writing is his spelling, composition, arithme-
tic, and other written exercises of the day. The
formal writing lesson is for the purpose of learning
how to do his applied writing successfully.

(e) In the primary grades all sorts of simple de-
vices may be used, such as honor lists, a blue ribbon
or string tied to the penholder, unfailing praise for
successful achievement.

(2) The second law of habit is: Never suffer an
exception to occur till the new hdbit^is securely rooted
in your life. "Each lapse is like the letting fall of
a ball of string which one is carefully winding up;
a single slip undoes more than a great many turns
will wind again." This law is violated when we
permit a pupil to practice a wrong form or move-
ment, or when he unconsciously imitates the bad

52 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

writing of a teacher. " Habit is habit," says Mark
Twain, "and not to be flung out of the window by
any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time. 7 '
Mr. Joseph T. Griffin, one of my principals, writes :

Children write on an average three hours a day, which is
fifteen hours, or 900 minutes, a week. They have a penmanship
lesson formally prescribed for 80 minutes a week. In this formal
exercise they write carefully, anxiously, elaborately. During the
other 820 minutes when they are writing, their minds are not
on the penmanship, but on the arithmetic, the grammar, the
history, or geography which is the subject of the lesson. They
write freely, hastily, and usually execrably. The habit forma-
tion is taking place there and no painstaking formal exercise in
penmanship can offset the harm of scribbling during the other
periods.

Every written exercise should be a lesson in
penmanship,

(3) The third maxim is : Seize the very first pos-
sible opportunity to act on every resolution you make,
and on every emotional prompting you may expe-
rience in the direction o/ the habit you aspire to gain.
"With mere good intentions, hell is proverbially
paved. . . . There is no more contemptible type
of human character than that of the nerveless senti-
mentalist and dreamer, who spends his life in a
weltering sea of sensibility and emotion, but who
never does a manly, concrete deed/ 7 In short, here
we invoke the law of effort. If we fail in the case
of, some pupils to motivate writing drills according

OF HANDWRITING 53

to the first law, the drills must nevertheless be
done. When the law of interest fails to achieve our
purpose, then we apply force. Children will have
to learn that we live in a world where we can not
always do only what we like. Many hard and dis-
agreeable things must be done by people who would
rather be doing something else. The dead must be
buried, sewers must be cleaned, dishes must be
washed three times a day. It is just as well to let
children know from the start that some parts of
school work are not very interesting, but that they
must nevertheless be done. Among these are pen-
manship drills, the multiplication table, dates in
history, spelling, and the like.

GRAPHOLOGY

1. Its Elements. Graphology is the science of
estimating character or of determining personality
by studying handwriting. The basic elements of
this science are:

(1) That handwriting is a form of dramatic ex-
pression like gesture, bodily posture, and facial
expression.

(2) That handwriting individuality is of central
origin that handschrift is hernschrift The great
individual variation in the time at which hand-
writing sets or matures with the consequent fixation
of style is one of the most interesting aspects.

54 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

(3) That control of handwriting in such elements
as relative proportion between one and two or
three space letters, continuity of writing, manner-
isms in dotting the i } etc., remains constant and
cannot be disguised.

(4) That variability within certain limits is a
sign of character. It is impossible for a man to
make two signatures exactly alike. One of the
proofs of forgery by tracing consists in the exact
reproduction of a signature.

2. Graphological Methods. The methods by which
graphology arrives at its conclusions are briefly
these:

(1) The method of analogy , as when it is inferred
that a connected handwriting indicates continuity
of thought, while frequent breaks in writing imply
intermittent flashes of inspiration, or when small
writing is assumed as evidence of a love of minutiae.

(2) An appeal to psychological principles, e. g.,
the law that every mental state tends to issue in
some form of expression, or the law that force and
energy of movement (like size and pressure of
writing) are a direct outcome of mental energy.

(3) Empirical observation, as when we compare
the writing of a group of intellectually superior
persons with that of the intellectually inferior; or
the writings of criminals with those of moral re-
formers. Binet found that age could be deter-

OF HANDWRITING 55

mined in this way within an average of ten years,
and sex in from 63 to 90 per cent of cases.

(4) The method of intuition abandons the analytic
for the synthetic method. In this case the writing
is judged on general impression. Some people have
great ability in this line quite apart from any train-
ing. A test conducted by Osborn revealed a wide
range of variation; namely, from 100 per cent of
accuracy to 65 per cent (50).

(5) Experimental graphology is an attempt to
apply the scientific method to the subject. It
differs from experimental psychology of hand-
writing principally in the fact that graphology deals
entirely with the product while psychology deals
with the movement. Graphological inquiry has
dealt with:

(a) The influence of external factors (pen, ink,
paper, etc.),

(b) The range of individual variation dependent
on subjective conditions (mood, emotional excite-
ment, etc.),

(c) The range of graphic control to determine
what elements may be easily modified and which
resist all attempts at disguise.

(6) Pathological writing, which has for its object
the diagnosis of disease. For instance, Dr. E. W,
Scripture (57) reports a case of " penmanship stut-
tering." A patient, thirty-eight years old, had been

56 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

a stenographer for eighteen years. Then after three
years of illness he secured a position as teller in a
bank. His writing was poor, and was complained
of by his employers. When other clerks were pro-
moted, he was passed over. He tried in vain to
improve his penmanship and became extremely
nervous. When he arrived at his bank in the
morning, a nervous fit would seize him and his
writing became almost illegible. The treatment
for his trouble was like that for stuttering. He was
given a new alphabet similar to hierogliphics. At
first he wrote with a brush, then gradually the old
alphabet was substituted. As long as he thought
he was doing it in the new way he was successful.

3. The Graphologist and the Scientific Investigator.
Unfortunately not many of these graphological
claims have been verified by experimental tests.
Miss June E. Downey (14) has assembled, in a very
interesting and learned volume, facts concerning
the present status of the science, and has made
some original contributions of her own.

Significance of size. But the conclusions of the
graphologist and of the scientific investigator are
seldom parallel. For instance, with reference to
the size of writing, the following are the findings
of the several methods of inquiry (14:45):

(1) Graphological. Large writing means pride,
ambition, imagination; spaced writing indicates

OF HANDWRITING 57

clearness, generosity; small writing means love of de-
tail, critical acumen, pedantry, finesse; compressed
writing suggests parsimony, self-centeredness.

(2) Mechanical. Size depends largely on the
system of writing employed. It is greatly influ-
enced by pen, paper, etc.

(3) Pathological. Psycho-motor excitement is
shown by increased size of writing; automatism
leads to increase of dimension; loss of motor control
may be masked by increased size; psycho-motor
improvement results in reduced writing; fatigue may
lead to reduced size.

(4) Experimental. Increased size accompanies
increased nervous activity; automatic writing pro-
duced with distraction of attention shows increase
in size; script produced with eyes closed is usually
larger; decrease in size is associated with lessened
speed; it comes when effort is involved or when
attention is directed toward movement; it is an
outcome of intentional increase in speed; disguised
writing is often reduced in size.

From this exhibit it is evident that the grapho-
logical position is largely based on assumptions
which await verification.

This statement, however, does not apply to the
methods of the handwriting expert in identifying
handwriting and penetrating disguises for legal
purposes. Osborn (51) gives us a most illuminating

58 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

account of the mechanical appliances used by these
experts, such as the document microscope, the
enlarged photograph, and delicate scales for deter-
mining line width, degree of curvature of con-
necting lines, and similar graphic details. That
these methods are reliable is attested by hundreds
of legal battles whose outcome turned on evidence
of handwriting experts. The writer has himself
had experience with anonymous letters written by
teachers. Experts in each case picked out the
guilty parties by examining more than half a
hundred specimens of writing. In each case author-
ship was denied until the defendant was confronted
with the evidence at the trial, when full confession
was made.

School Intelligence and Handwriting. What corre-
lation is there between general school achievement
and skill in penmanship? Mr. Arnold L. Gesell (26)
has made a study of this question and also of the
relation between sex and handwriting. On the
basis of 12,600 specimens of handwriting selected
from the school children of Worcester, Mass., he
concludes that :

1. For large numbers of cases, accuracy in the
writing of elementary pupils tends to vary directly
with school intelligence.

2. From the fifth grade through the high school,
girls write more accurately than boys.

OF HANDWRITING 59

3. Boys show a tendency toward incoordinated
writing in all grades.

4. Sex differences in writing become marked
about the age of ten, and are largely attributable to
mental qualities. Similar sex differences were dis-
covered in spelling ability by Cornman (11). Boys
show a motorial incoordination of 54.8 per cent,
while girls have only 44,8 per cent. This excess of
error by defect of motor process on the part of boys,
says Cornman, may be accounted for by the direction
of their attention to the completion of the word as a
whole, while the superiority of the girls may be
conversely ascribed to their care in the formation of
each letter. The same considerations account for
the fact that boys write more words than girls,
but girls are better spellers.

(5) If writing is an index, then painstaking or
careless qualities in a motor function bespeak in
pupils of the elementary grades the same qualities
in general school work.

This study was made before any of the hand-
writing scales were in existence and before most of
the intelligence and achievement tests now familiar
to school men had been constructed. In these
measuring instruments we have a simple and much
more reliable method of ascertaining the correlation
between school intelligence and handwriting ability
than Geseli had at the time of his investigation.

CHAPTER III

PRINCIPLES DEDUCED

1. FROM PHYSIOLOGY

1. We may roughly divide the development of
handwriting into three stages, the imitative, the
formative, and the confirmed or settled.

2. The writing process is a very complex coor-
dinated movement, which may be resolved into:

(1) Finger movement.

(2) Hand movement from the wrist as center.

(3) Arm movement from the elbow as center.

(4) Arm movement from the shoulder as center.

(5) Pronation.

3. The variety of combinations of these several
movements and the preponderance of one or the
other lead to individuality in handwriting. There
is no one combination which is best for all.

4. Writing at first is a coordinated movement of
the voluntary kind. This means that many differ-
ent muscles must be energized at just the right
moment and with an exact degree of strength if
the movement is to be successful.

5. This harmony of action can be achieved only
by long and careful practice. The object of the

60

OF HANDWRITING 61

learner has been accomplished only when what was
at first voluntary coordination has become invol-
untary or automatic.

6. Diffusion of effort is one of the early difficulties
of the learner. He energizes groups of muscles
which are not needed in writing. " Nature attacks
her problems of development by producing more
than she needs and then picking out the best. De-
velopment means the selection of the right move-
ments out of a total mass of diffuse movements"
(Judd).

7. The wrist should be inclined not more than 45
(Freeman).

8. The hand should be supported on the third
and fourth fingers (Freeman).

9. The writing arm should be perpendicular to
the line of writing (Freeman). To effect this the
paper must be turned so that the lower left-hand
corner points toward the body.

10. The penholder should be held loosely and in
such a way that the forefinger is below the thumb
(Freeman).

11. Good writers use more arm movement than
poor writers, although finger movement is also
employed by most good writers (Freeman).

12. Good writers move more easily along the line
than poor ones (Freeman).

62 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

13. "The good writer divides the writing move-
ment into a series of units, corresponding to the
natural units of form of letters, more radically than
does the poor writer " (Freeman).

14. The whole-arm movement in the primary
grades is harmful and violates the principle that
nothing should be taught at one stage that must
be unlearned at a later stage (Palmer).

15. Investigators disagree as to the correct pro-
cedure in primary grades. Some would stress move-
ment and speed, deferring form to a later period;
others would stress form, postponing speed and
movement to a later period.

16. Nutt's experiments indicate that arm move-
ment should not be stressed before the age of nine
or ten.

17. " Pupils who make high grades in quality do
not use a large amount of arm movement more com-
monly than do poor writers" (Nutt).

18. Considerable correlation exists between speed
and arm movement; "but many finger-movement
writers write with as great a speed as any arm-
movement writer" (Nutt).

19. Several experts believe that the extensive
use of formal "push-pull" and oval drills is a waste
0f time. They secure all movement drills through
exercises in letter formation (Houston, Mills).

OF HANDWRITING 63

20. Rhythmic movement increases naturally with
age.

21. Nutt found no correlation between rhythm
and quality; but Freeman suggests that there may
be advantages which are offset by disadvantages.

22. There is a decided correlation between
rhythm and speed, and rhythm "resembles speed
in that an extreme degree of it is probably unfavor-
able to form" (Nutt).

23. McAllister found that a slant of 48 permits
the most rapid writing.

24. The hand acquires a slope that is farther
removed from the vertical than the model used
as a copy, a child usually deviating 10 (McAllister).

25. The greater the slant to the right the more
rapid will be the writing.

26. A slant of 75 permits legible writing, but as
the angle decreases below 70, the legibility de-
creases rapidly (McAllister).

27. A base line is desirable to guide the eye across
the page. Other lines cause the child to give more
attention to spacing and height than to form and
movement (McAllister).

28. As to size, each pupil should be permitted to
use that which is natural to him (McAllister).

29. Children, in first learning to write, use the
finger and wrist movements, which produce small
writing (McAllister).

M SUPERVISION AND TEACHING
2, FROM PSYCHOLOGY

30. From the point of view of subject matter,
handwriting is one of the manual arts and is pri-
marily a form of motor training. The psychology
of writing is therefore the psychology of voluntary
movement and habit.

31. A study of "unconscious imitation " by Starch
proves that one's writing is largely affected by the
model, even when there is no intentional imitation.
This shows the importance of requiring the teacher
to be an expert in the kind of writing she is ex-
pected to teach.

32. Starch's experiment explains also why a
child's writing in a copy book that has many lines
declines regularly and ends in a scrawl on the last
line. A movable copy slip which hides the pupil's
own writing and always keeps the correct copy in
view is better than a copy book.

33. A copy book or copy slip may be used as a
corrective of form; "as the dictionary is consulted
when one is in doubt about the spelling of words "
(Thompson).

34. In forming the letters we depend chiefly on
the muscular and tactile sensibility; but the general
and coordinating control necessary in making one
line equal to another is left entirely to the eyes
(Wood worth),

( Writing is an example of habit formation; hence

OF HANDWRITING 65

the following laws of habit should be recalled in this
connection:

35. Habit simplifies movement by eliminating
useless motions.

36. Habit makes for accuracy.

37. Habit reduces fatigue by eliminating diffusion
of effort.

38. In habit formation we must launch ourselves
with as strong and decided an initiative as possible.
This points to the necessity for motivating our
writing drills.

39. Never suffer an exception to occur till the
new habit is securely rooted. This law is violated
when we permit a pupil to practice a wrong form
or movement.

40. The law of effort must also be invoked. If
we fail to motivate drills through direct interest,
then indirect interest, or effort, must be employed.
The pupil must learn that some uninteresting things
in life must nevertheless be done.

41. Graphology is the science of estimating
character or of determining personality by studying
handwriting. A branch of this science is concerned
with the identification of handwriting in legal or
criminal cases (Downey).

42. Certain elements of handwriting, such as
relative proportion between one and two or three
space letters, continuity of writing, mannerisms in

66 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

dotting the i, etc., remain constant and cannot be
disguised (Downey).

43. Binet found that age could be determined by
handwriting within an average of ten years, and sex
in from 63 to 90 per cent of cases (Downey).

44. Pathological writing is writing used to diag-
nose disease. " Penmanship stuttering" is an il-
lustration (Scripture).

45. Writing is largely affected by external factors
(pen, ink, paper, etc.) and by individual variation
dependent on subjective conditions (mood, emo-
tional excitement, etc.) (Downey).

46. For large numbers of cases, accuracy in the
writing of elementary pupils tends to vary directly
with school intelligence (Gesell).

47. Prom the fifth grade through high school
girls write more accurately than boys (Gesell).

48. Boys show a tendency toward incoordinated
writing in all grades (Gesell).

49. Sex differences in writing become marked
about the age of ten (Gesell).

50. If writing is an index, then painstaking or
careless qualities in motor function bespeak, in
elementary pupils, the same qualities in general
school work (Gesell).

CHAPTER IV

METHOD IN HANDWRITING

Materials of Writing. All experience of writing
teachers and supervisors emphasizes the importance
of providing the pupil with the right kind of writing
materials. Experimental investigations prove
(Proposition 45) l that the quality of writing is
largely affected by external factors, such as pen,
ink, and paper, enumerated below, and by indi-
vidual variations dependent upon subjective con-
ditions, such as mood and emotional excitement.
The case of "penmanship stuttering" cited on
page 55 illustrates what emotional excitement
may do to a writer.

1. The seat should be of the proper height. The
pupil should be able comfortably to put both feet
squarely on the floor while he is sitting.

2. The desk should be of the proper height. It
will be about right if the pupil, while sitting erect,
can comfortably rest both forearms on the desk.

3. The pen and ink must be right. When every-
thing is ready, you may take your position at the
desk and have it understood that you will be "at
home" to try pens for a few minutes. Every pupil

1 The propositions referred to in this chapter are found in Chapter III.

67

68 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

now makes a careful trial and inspection of his pen.
If he thinks it is worn out, or if he is in doubt about
it, he comes to you. A line is formed on your left
of those who have doubtful or poor pens. You
carefully try each pen; if you find one that is worn
out, you give the pupil a new one. You have pre-
viously attended to the ink, which must not be too
thin nor too thick, but just thin enough to flow
freely, and as black as possible. Pupils frequently
say, "My ink is black." That is its chief merit;
the trouble is that it is too thick to flow. No pupil
can write well with either paste or water. To keep
the ink in proper condition all the inkwells should
be covered, and they should be filled probably
twice a week. Several times a month they should
be thoroughly cleaned.

4. The paper must be right. I have seen chil-
dren try to write on paper of such poor quality
that it behaved like a blotter. It is a good plan in
drill work to fold the paper vertically into two or
three equal parts, and then shift it to the left on the
completion of each division, so as to maintain
uniformity of slant.

5. The ruling should consist of a base line and no
more (Prop. 27). Over exactness in early writing
seems to violate the principle that we should teach
one thing at a time. If the pupil writes on elabo-
rately ruled paper, he feels as if he were walking on a

OF HANDWRITING 69

tight rope. In every direction he is liable to make
a false step and go to his doom. A further objec-
tion to excessive ruling is that it deprives the pupil
of the opportunity of exercising his judgment. If
the eye, unaided by lines, is compelled to decide
height and slant and length, the pupil receives more
mental discipline from his writing lesson than he
would if all these things were determined by
mechanical devices.

6. The position of the body must be right:

(1) Both feet flat on the floor.

(2) Head erect.

(3) Body bent slightly forward from the hips.

(4) Both elbows on the desk.

7. The holding of the pen is important. Diffu-
sion of energy usually causes the pupil to grip the
holder very tightly and thus the hand soon tires.
Most children grasp the pen too near the end.
(Prop. 16, 37). The pen should be held lightly
(Prop. 10) and in such a way that the forefinger is
below the thumb (Freeman). The wrist should be
inclined not more than 45 (Prop. 7). The hand
should be supported on the third and fourth fingers
(Prop. 8) and the writing arm should be perpen-
dicular to the line of writing (Prop. 9).

Other Essential Steps. After the external factors
have been properly looked after, the actual teaching
begins.

70 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

1. The mental process of learning to write offers
no exception to the general law of learning. The
"steps of the recitation" apply in this subject as
well as in history, geography, and the other con-
tent studies. In a well-ordered writing lesson there
is preparation, followed by presentation, comparison,
and deduction or drill.

(1) The preparation is the analytical study of the
copy or standard form to ascertain its elements.
The first steps should usually be performed by
the teacher and the class on the blackboard.

(2) The presentation is the process of uniting the
elements thus obtained into the forms which the
child is to practice.

(3) The third step is the stage of comparison, or
the criticism of the learner's efforts. Has he
succeeded? In what respects has he failed? The
pupil should be trained to make these criticisms
himself, and thus even a lesson in penmanship cul-
tivates the power of reflection. Appeal to the
child's own sense of symmetry. " Compare his
irregular letters with his own regular letters. Show
him how to try again on the basis of his own past
efforts. In short, substitute a living, rational
teacher and a self-criticizing pupil for a lifeless
copy" (35:234).

(4) The fourth and last stage is the practice,
drill, or test. This is usually best obtained in the

OF HANDWRITING, 71

written work of the school outside of the writing
period. Hence constant attention should be paid
to the penmanship in composition, dictation, and
other written exercises. There is just as much rea-
son for observing this rule as there is for observing
the rules of grammar in the oral and written lan-
guage of the classroom. In none of his writing
should the pupil be allowed to fall into careless
habits. Even his notebooks should be regularly
inspected by the teacher and criticized as to accu-
racy and neatness.

I 2. It is of the utmost importance that the teach-
er's blackboard writing be as nearly perfect as
possible (Prop. 31). Care should be taken that
the pupil use the copy as a model rather than his
own writing (Prop. 33) when he is asked to test the
accuracy of his product.

3. Nothing is more fatal to progress than to per-
mit pupils to practice wrong forms (Prop. 39).
Therefore individual criticism of pupils is indis-
pensable. No teacher can successfully teach writ-
ing by sitting at her desk.

The Writing of the Youngest Pupils. Many points
concerning the beginnings of writing are still in
the controversial stage, because they<have not been
settled by scientific inquiry.

1. When to begin. The first question is, When
should a child begin to write? He now begins in

72 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

the first grade. He does the same in number
work, but I have proved to my own satisfaction
that all the time devoted to formal teaching in the
first grade is wasted (64). It is quite possible that
time devoted to formal lessons in writing is also
wasted. The child's growth in maturity during the
first year enables him to recover easily during the
second year all the number work he missed during
the first year. His growth in motor control may
have a similar effect upon his handwriting.

Thompson (66:86) says a child should begin to
write when he is physically fit and when he needs
it. As our schools are now organized he has very
little use for writing during the first year except in
arithmetic, and if numbers were omitted, that
need would disappear. I do not believe anyone
would claim that we have as yet ascertained when a
child is physically fit to write. That he can learn
to write at six is certain, for he is doing it. But
whether that is the most favorable time is a ques-
tion for future experiment to determine. Indeed,
Thompson says "the child is not physiologically
fitted to learn to write until the ninth or tenth year
at least" (p. 89). It would require rather a radical
reconstruction of our school practice to postpone
writing so long.

2* Fundamental to accessory (8). F N. Freeman
(20) has examined the contention that children

OF HANDWRITING 73

should use only the large fundamental muscles in
school exercises and has come to the conclusion that
the theory is not well founded. He cites numerous
facts, open to common observation, showing that
children use the small or peripheral muscles from
the very beginning. Then he sums up in this
fashion:

Since the development of the child's general capacity in move-
ment cannot be adequately described in terms of fundamental-
accessory movement theory, we must seek to define it in other
terms. Experimental evidence has clearly demonstrated that
there is a marked development in movement in a number of
respects. The steadiness with which a child of six can maintain
any position is increased fourfold by the time he reaches the
period of youth. Precision of movement is relatively deficient in
the young child. In speed of movement there is an increase
which is represented in tapping with the fingers by more than
two in a second. The ability to make a complex movement, such
as tying a knot, is noticeably deficient in a young child (p. 52).

From these facts he deduces the following prac-
tical rules:

(1) "In lower grades, the writing period should
come at a time when the child is not already
fatigued,"

(2) "Too great precision should not be de-
manded."

(3) "A pen should not be used at all to begin
with. The first pen should be coarse."

74 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

/4) "The penholder should be of some material
which can be easily held in position, such as cork
or soft rubber, and should be of a medium size,
smaller than that used by the older children."

(5) "The surface of the paper should be hard
enough so that the pen does not easily stick into it/ 7

(6) "It is obvious to an observer of young chil-
dren that . , . they contract too strongly the
smaller muscles which control the fingers. -It be-
comes necessary, then, to counteract this tendency
to overuse by laying emphasis upon the use of the
movements of the arm." This may be done by
rhythmical movements to count or victrola music.
"Rhythmical movements are known to produce
much less fatigue than movements which are
irregular."

(7) "The writing of the beginner should have two
characteristics. It should be very large, and it
should be done with the arm as a whole rather than
with the fingers. It is clear that a large letter can
be made with much less precision than a small one
without producing any greater departure from the
true form of the letter. These two requirements
of size and arm movement are met in the highest
degree by blackboard writing. When the condi-
tions make it impossible for the child to make the
whole-arm movement properly, the next best pro-
cedure is to use the arm movement with rest and

OF HANDWRITING 75

require the child to write as large as his arm will
permit. It will be possible to obtain writing in
which the one-space letters are nearly one-half inch
in height."

I have quoted extensively from Mr. Freeman
because he has given more time and attention to
experimental work in handwriting than any other
person in America. His demand for whole-arm
movement is undoubtedly sound. Exaggeration of
size and movement in handwriting has the same
effect as the magnification of a flower or insect by
a lens. It impresses the form of the letter and the
nature of the movement more clearly and more
vividly upon the mind. The only difference of
opinion is on how long this exaggeration should
continue. We have seen (Prop. 14) that the whole-
arm movement does serious harm if continued too
long. It is my opinion that the large writing on
paper should not extend beyond two or three
months; and that by the beginning of the second
half of the first year the writing should be of normal
size.

(8) Nutt's experiments (Prop. 16) indicate that
arm movement should not be stressed before the
third year of school. In New York there are no
movement drills prescribed by the Syllabus before
the 2B grade (second half of the second yea^). Mc-
Allister found that children, in first learning to

76 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

write, use the finger and wrist movements (Prop.
29). In St. Louis arm movement is stressed from
the third year.

3. Form of the movements. The question as to
what should be the form of the movement drill when
it is introduced is important. We have seen that
two prominent supervisors (Prop. 19) believe that
the drills should be on letter or word forms rather
than on abstract lines and ovals. The principle
involved, it will be noticed, is the same as that
which is now applied to manual training and other
subjects, the principle of correlation. Formerly the
pupil was occupied in making joints and dovetails,
in smoothing and shaping and rounding pieces of
wood. None of these exercises led to a definite
practical end in which the pupil was naturally inter-
ested. Now the manual training teacher has his
pupil employed upon the construction of useful
articles. The product is a completed thing whose
value the child appreciates. All project work em-
bodies the same principle. Even the music teacher
has discovered that it is better to motivate practice
by giving the pupil a " piece " from the start than
to keep him indefinitely on dreary finger exercises,

4. When shall we use ink f Mr. Palmer thinks a
^-year-old child is not too young to use ink. Dis-
trict Superintendent Rector, who has had excep-
tional experience to justify h opinion, says, "All

OF HANDWRITING 77

writing should be in ink. The only exception to
this may be in arithmetic." In St. Louis the pencil
is used for the first three years. We are thus again
in the realm of opinion, because no experimental
data are at hand. Until somebody proves some-
thing, you will like what you like and I shall do
the same.

Writing in the Higher Grades. The following points
are to be noted in a discussion of the writing of
older children:

1. Drills. If we remember that writing is a
very complex coordinated movement of the volun-
tary kind (Prop. 2, 4), the necessity for an abun-
dance of drill of the right kind is at once apparent.
The object of the writing drills is to make the move-
ment automatic (Prop. 5). Investigations prove
that we must expect children to use various combi-
nations of finger, arm, and wrist movements (Prop.
2, 3), but that the good writer uses more arm move-
ment than the poor writer (Prop. 11). Hence the
forearm movement drills should be stressed in all
the upper grades.

2. Motivation. These drills should be motivated
by all kinds of devices, some of which are discussed
elsewhere (see pp. 121, 170). One of the most po-
tent of these is the exemption of pupils who have
reached a certain standard. " Every test," says
Freeman (20:150), "of the ability of pupils in

78 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

handwriting brings out the fact of a large amount of
overlapping in the successive grades. Many chil-
dren are superior in attainment to the average of
attainment of several grades above them. If the
children were given an additional incentive to
improvement by being granted exemption from
the writing lesson on promotion to a higher grade
as soon as they had attained the standard of the
second grade above them, many of them would soon
attain this degree of efficiency."

3. Speed and quality. " In general, ' y says Thomp-
son (66:57), "movement loses accuracy as speed is
increased, but it is not true that equal increments
of speed produce equal increments of error. . . .
Therefore there is a lower limit beyond which
decrease in speed does not conduce to greater
accuracy. In the same way, at the upper end
there is a limit beyond which increase in speed
does not produce much further inaccuracy."

In the first survey of my own district the evi-
dence was plain that we had developed speed at
the expense of form in many schools. As a rule the
proportionate increase of arm movement (Prop. 18)
tends to increase speed. Rhythmic movement
tends to improve both form and speed (Prop. 20,
21, 22).

"Rapidity," says Thorndike, "is in and of itself
a good sign. If we know nothing about one score

OF HANDWRITING 79

or so of pupils save that they are rapid writers, and
nothing about another score save that they are
slow writers, we can prophesy that at the same rate
the former groups will on the average do writing
of a higher quality. . . . There is a close rela-
tion between the quality of writing at a natural
rate and that at a slower rate." A group of chil-
dren producing a quality of high grade at a rate of
33-37, inclusive, at the first test will produce a
quality of high grade at a final rate of 52-60, in-
clusive. " The gain in quality which a pupil secures
by writing more slowly than his natural rate is not
great. Sixty-one pupils whose rate was from 52-58
words in four minutes, by reducing their rate to
32-36 words in four minutes (that is, by writing
only two thirds as fast) gained on the average in
quality less than one step of the scale."

4. Remedial instruction. Many writers on hand-
writing remind us that scales should be used for
diagnostic purposes, and when we have ascertained
what is the specific weakness of a pupil or class,
instruction should concern itself with an attempt
to remedy that defect. Gray's Score Card is an ex-
cellent device for locating a pupil's errors (see page
139).

5. Sex in writing. Girls are said to be more ac-
curate in penmanship than boys (Prop. 47), who
have a tendency toward incoordinated writing

80 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

in all grades (Prop. 48). This does not appear to
have much practical bearing upon the problem in
hand, except to furnish "an alibi " for teachers of
boys' classes. But alibis don't get you anywhere,
so where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise. The
fact of the matter is that boys can and do learn to
write well under a competent instructor. If it is
any comfort for teachers of boys to know that their
work is harder than that of their comrades who
teach girls, they are entitled to that consolation.

6. Time element in writing. Concerning the
length of practice periods, W. Smythe Johnson (33)
reports the following interesting conclusion:

(1) When practice is carried on until the move-
ments become irregular, the practice becomes in-
jurious, for the irregular movements become in-
corporated into the chain of reaction as certainly as
those which are purposefully directed. If wrong
adjustments of muscles are made, and these gain a
place in the chain of subconscious memories, then
these adjustments delay the development of the
control over the muscles for accurate adjustment.

(2) "Short periods of practice often repeated
make for more rapid development of the accurate
adjustment of voluntary movements than few
periods of longer duration." Whipple (72:26)

a similar observation: "Make the duration
your periods of study long enough to utilize a

OF HANDWRITING 81

warming up, but not so long as to suffer from
weariness or fatigue. 7 ' And again he says: "When
drill or repetition is necessary, distribute over more
than one period the time given to a specified learn-
ing." According to Thorndike (67) three school
systems out of seven measured "get little or no
better results at a time cost of about 75 minutes a
week than two systems do at zero time cost; and
one system, at no greater time cost than C, D, and
E, gets results about 25 per cent better than they do;
and practice for quality may secure it only at the
cost of speed. "

7. Left-handed children. What to do with left-
handed children is still a debated problem. On the
one hand it is argued that equipment for writing is
made for right-handed people; therefore the left-
handed writer is always at a disadvantage. A
prominent educator known to the writer has four
sons, all of whom were left-handed, and all of whom
were compelled by their father to write with the
right hand. Many writing masters and super-
visors maintain that all children should use the
right hand. Psychologists, on the other hand, are
not so emphatic on this point. They recognize the
fact that left-handedness is a fundamental physio-
logical condition, and that in many cases the at-
tempt to change causes disturbance of speech.
They therefore advise that if a child is strongly

82 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

left-handed lie should be allowed to use his left
hand. If his preference is only slight, he may be
urged to use his right hand.

8. Group teaching. Mr. Walker (70), who is su-
pervisor of writing in the St. Louis Public Schools,
has discovered, as every teacher has, "in every room
above the third grade three distinct groups of
writers the good, the mediocre, and the poor."
The first step in the attempt to adapt the instruc-
tion to the needs of children was to divide every
class into three sections, known as A, B, C. The
pupils changed their seats for writing lessons and
each group received instruction on separate days,
while the rest of the class were doing something else.

The next step was to organize three adjacent
rooms so that all the A's were in one room at writing
time, all the B's in another, and all the C's in
another. This added much to the interest and the
progress of the pupils.

Then the promotion idea suggested itself. Once
a month there was a regrading. The best writers
in the A group went to the C room and became
exempt or helpers. The rest of the children were
moved up as their proficiency warranted.

The plan was extended throughout the "school
and then to the city as a whole.

The advantages claimed are:

(1) Very few failures.

OF HANDWRITING 83

(2) Percentage of good writers among boys
greatly increased.

(3) The children are able to complete formal
practice much earlier than formerly.

(4) Supervision is simplified.

(5) Instruction is simplified.

(6) Penmanship is motivated.

Teaching Illiterates How to Write. For the use of
evening schools in teaching illiterates, Mr. Massell
(65) and the writer devised a plan which has been
successfully employed for four years. Since it is
brief, it is quoted here in full:

The following course in Teaching to Write One's Name in
Three Lessons is the outgrowth of experience in teaching illiterate
adults how to write. This experience has convinced the authors
that the short road to success is the tracing copy. That tracing
is based on sound psychology needs no argument. By tracing,
the learner gets an experience of how it feels to make the exact
movement required. As O'Shea says, the pupil is unable to re-
produce a form by simply looking at it, because " we see through
our motor habits." By tracing a form, the pupil establishes a
temporary mfrtor habit which enables him to see what the form
actually is.

Having decided upon the psychological foundation, the next
step was to work out the details by experiment. The aim was
to find the way in which an illiterate adult could be successfully
taught to write his name in the shortest possible time. The ex-
periment has convinced us that the result can be accomplished
in three lessons.

1. Educational value. We have found the course useful in.
many ways. The illiterate adult, when he goes to evening
school, often wants immediate results. Our course in writing

S4 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

erne's name serves this purpose and incidentally becomes an
incentive to further study.

Signatures are required in business, social, political, and reli-
gious life. Everyone is required, at^one 'time or another, to write
his name. The illiterate, by securing this very substantial
help in three nights, sees that night schools have something
valuable to offer him. Ability to write his name raises his self-
respect, and adds to the security of his property.

2. Method. Each class has two teachers. No instruction is
given in this class except that of writing one's name and address.
When the pupil enters the class, his name in stencil form is made
out by a teacher who is a good penman. The size of the writing is
exaggerated in the first model and reduced to normal in subse-
quent lessons.

The pupil takes the copy and writes as long as he wants to
during the evening. The second teacher supervises the seat
work, giving help and encouragement where these are needed.
In later lessons the pupil practices until the normal size and
satisfactory performance are attained.

LESSON I
Writing by Tracing

1. The new pupil on entering the class gives his name.

2. The teacher writes the name on a piece of paper
in slightly above normal-sized letters. Name to be
written in a clear, bold hand so that the form of each
letter and the connecting strokes are plainly visible.

3. The name to be written lightly with pen or pencil
and to be repeated at least twenty times.

4. Whfle the teacher is writing the copy, the pupfl
is to observe the teacher's position at the desk, the

pen and paper, and the writing movement.

OF HANJDWRITING 85

5. The pupil is then directed to take his seat and a
second teacher takes charge of him.

6. With a soft pencil the pupil, under the guidance
and supervision of the second teacher, proceeds to
trace the twenty outlines given.

7. Additional copies may be given to pupils who do
not acquire facility in tracing by the twentieth time.

Lesson not to exceed a half hour in duration.

LESSON II
Writing from Copy

1. As a review, five copies are given for tracing.

2. Then a new sheet is given with one copy on it.

3. The pupil proceeds to copy below the original.
This is to be continued until the pupil acquires facility.
No more than three copies are to be permitted on one
paper. Give a new copy then, so that the teacher's
copy may be the model and not the pupil's own efforts.

Time not more than half an hour.

LESSON III
Writing from Memory Application

1. Let the pupil copy his name three times. (Review)

2. Let the pupil write his name from memory.

3. Resort to copying, if difficulty is experienced.

4. Application: Signing checks, money orders, de-
posit slips, post-office removal notices, receipts, etc.

5. Write name on envelope.

Fottow the same procedure in teaching one to write fns
address.

This course has been widely approved by busi-
ness men, judges, lawyers, heads of city depart-

86 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

ments, editors (Frank Crane has written on it),
officers of the post-office department, the natural-
ization bureau, banks, insurance companies, and
the New York State Americanization Bureau.

Departmental Teaching. Some writing experts are
of the opinion that handwriting cannot be taught
successfully in the elementary school by the depart-
mental system, for the reason that the formal writ-
ing lesson is only a small part of the writing situa-
tion. Unless pupils are held to correct posture,
relaxation, pen holding, movement, etc., in all
writing, they will never become good writers. This
opinion, however, is not universally valid. I have
seen writing taught with great success by the de-
partmental plan in the grades, and in the secondary
school it is necessarily so taught. In the St. Louis
Survey it is recorded (Vol. 5, p. 226) that depart-
mentalization in the upper grades has been success-
ful. Careful tests showed that children so trained
wrote almost as well in all of the grades and fully
as well in two of them, when their attention was
upon the thought which they were expressing, as
when they were doing the formal writing lesson.
This indicates that the writing habit is not confined
to the writing lesson and is, therefore, an evidence
of good instruction.

It is safe to assume that these results were achieved
by the competent supervision of the principal.

CHAPTER V

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF HANDWRITING

In order to be strictly in the fashion of the day,
one ought to speak of the "objectives" of hand-
writing. But we elders of the profession who have
lived through so many changes of fashion in educa-
tional lingo ought not to be chided if we exercise our
individuality by affecting last year's style. What
we meant yesterday and what we mean today is
that there must be a reason for teaching penman-
ship. What is that reason? Only two cities 1 re-
port serious consideration of the aims of penmanship
teaching. As it is one of the traditional Three B/s,
its necessity has probably been generally assumed,
and not much thought has apparently been given
to the function of writing and its proper place
among the hierarchy of studies. Tacoma says:

The purpose of penmanship ... is that pupils may acquire
efficient habits in a skill useful in varying degrees throughout
life. . . . The m6st valuable by-product resulting from effi-
cient penmanship training is, without question, that of self-
discipline. This may be translated into such terms as neatness,
relaxation, close observation, muscular coordinations, rhythmic
response, appreciation of beauty, orderly thinking.

1 All citations of practices and opinions of other cities are taken from
answers to the writer's questionnaire on the Supervision of Handwriting
referred to in Chapter VI.

87

88 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

The foes of Formal Discipline, please take notice!
St. Louis states the aim in these terms:

The chief business of the school is to assist the child in build-
ing up organized concepts of the world; to help him to make
these concepts more definite, complete, comprehensive, and to
give them adequate meaning. All the school subjects reading,
writing, spelling, arithmetic, music, drawing grow out of and
are subordinate to this organization of the child's imagery, to
the end that he may gain greater control over his world. The
only means by which the child may organize and complete his
imagery is through expression. . . . Handwriting is one means
of organization or interpretation; it should not be made an
objective; it is a means to an end, a mode of expression.

The educational value of the several subjects in
the curriculum, I think, might be roughly summed
p under the following five heads: 1

First. Utilitarian Value

Second. Conventional Value

Third. Disciplinary Value

Fourth. Subjective or Interpretative Value

Fifth. Ethical Value

If you test subjects under these five heads, you
will find that some have more of one than of the
others. History, for instance, has conventional
value. A certain amount of historical knowledge
is assumed in the case of anyone who aspires to

i Parts of this chapter axe taken from an address on "The Educational
,o Muscular Movement" delivered by the author in 1911, and
from stenographic notes by the A. N. Palmer Company
by the A. N. Palmer Company. ^^

OF HANDWRITING

polite society. To be ignorant of the history of
one's country would be a discredit. Not to have
heard of Julius Caesar, or Socrates, or Napoleon,
or the Duke of Wellington would be a serious slur
upon one's intelligence. Such facts in themselves
may have little or no practical value, but they have
conventional value. Then history has also utili-
tarian value, for it enables the citizen to vote
intelligently and to reason correctly upon social
and historical themes. Again, history has subjec-
tive or interpretative value, for it enables one to
understand what he reads in newspapers and books
when historical persons or events are alluded to.
Lastly, history has ethical value. Heroic and noble
personages serve as ideals of character and incite
the student to emulate unselfish and valiant deeds.
1. Utilitarian value. I think most people will
admit that penmanship does possess this value,
although some educators have spoken rather con-
temptuously of the subject. They have pooh-
poohed writing as having no educational value at
all. Some have even advocated the use of the
typewriter in the classroom (as is done in schools
and classes for the blind) so that writing would
become again a useless art, as in medieval days,
when it was regarded as an accomplishment beneath
the dignity of well-bred people. When I was edi-
tor of the New York Teachers Magazine, I printed

90 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

an article from the pen of a Chicago school princi-
pal in which the writer solemnly declared that "the
writing machine is coming into the public school.
The children will be thankful/ 7 he said, "when they
are relieved of such an immense amount of useless
drudgery as the pen now imposes upon them." So
we have had all sorts of extreme views concerning
the slight value of penmanship as a school exercise
from men in the highest places of authority in the
educational world.

What is the utilitarian value of rapid business
writing? Here is an excerpt bearing on this point
written by the late Mr. Henry Clews, the New
York banker:

I am always ready to consider applications for positions in
my office from bright, intelligent boys from sixteen to eighteen
years of age. Such boys should have had a complete course in
the common schools, and should have some associates that -will
vouch for their good conduct and integrity. In my employ
there are about one hundred and fifty young men, and they were
all able to answer the requirements I have stated. I invariably
ask young men to make their applications in their own hand-
writing, and I make my preliminary selections on the score of
their chirography. I regret to say that the value of legible pen-
manship in this connection is often underrated in America. In
England it is otherwise. There, writing of the copper-plate
style is insisted upon. I would advise young men seeking posi-
tions to practice good penmanship. It is a valuable thing,
ataost a necessity. The first position that I held in New York
was wifch Wilson G. Hunt and Company, who had advertised

OF HANDWRITING 91

for an assistant bookkeeper. I was told that I was engaged
because of my penmanship. That was the beginning of my
Wall Street career. 1

The fact that business schools flourish alongside
of our free public schools shows that there is utili-
tarian- value in penmanship, because the pupil
comes here and pays to learn to write after we have
wasted eight years in a vain effort to teach him the
same thing. I am ashamed that the pupil should
have to spend money to make up for our de-
ficiencies. When we come to think it over, it is a
wicked thing that we should devote eight years to
an art so simple as writing, and then turn the pupil
out with an atrocious writing habit and pass him
on to the high school. The longer he remains in
the high school the worse his writing gets. By the
time he finishes his college course he is a hopeless
"scribbler. One of the worst jobs ever handed to me
was a set of examination papers on the history and
principles of teaching, written by college graduates.
They were applicants for positions as teachers in
our city high schools. When I had finished the
reading of those papers, I realized most vividly the
utilitarian value of penmanship. Before asking an
examiner to rate papers written in such dreadful

i From the magazine, Success. Mr. Cameron Beck, Personnel Direc-
tor of the New York Stock Exchange, who passes on the applications
of several thousand boys applying for work each year, confessed to me
recently that one of the most serious deficiencies of the boys is poor hand-
writing.

92 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

scrawls, the Board of Education should hire a clerk
to transcribe the stuff by means of a typewriter.

Penmanship has further utilitarian value. Dur-
ing the early days of my superintendence I exam-
ined certain schools and tested twenty or thirty
classes in spelling. Every now and then, while the
teacher was dictating the words, I remarked, "You
are dictating too rapidly." And the teacher would
say, "No, there is plenty of time." I had for-
gotten that they were "Palmer Schools," and that
they were learning to write rapidly. I was thinking
about the length of time it used to take to do spell-
ing, before the introduction of arm-movement writ-
ing. I found I could save at least half the time
it used to take to dictate ten words in spelling.
Now, as I examine five or six hundred classes in
spelling every year, it is plain that business writing
has utilitarian value to me. It gets me out of the
school more quickly; and it has utilitarian value to
the teacher, because she is very anxious to get rid
of me!

I went to one of my schools not long ago and
observed a teacher dictating a paragraph from
Daniel Webster. We timed the children. The
slowest pupil in class did it in six minutes. I know
that twenty years ago any teacher in New York
trotild have spent forty minutes on that exercise.
fe fee of Dr. Maxwell's reports of that day he

OF HANDWRITING 93

criticizes our dictation and makes the statement
that in many classes forty-five minutes is con-
sumed in the dictation of four lines of poetry. It
was true. I can prove it, for I did it myself!

2. Conventional value. Now, as to conventional
value. This is a value apart from any use one in-
tends to make of the subject or art. It is negative.
It is like spelling. No one receives any special
credit for being a good speller, but it is a disgrace
to be a poor one. Similarly, poor handwriting is a
discredit. You judge people by their handwriting.
While graphology is not yet wholly on a scientific
basis (see page 56), nevertheless there are certain
kinds of writing that people commonly would not
associate with intelligence. On the other hand,
when you see a good, free form of writing, you say
that person has training.

3. Disciplinary value. Does writing possess dis-
ciplinary value? Professor McMurry proposes this
thesis:

" Mental development should be expected as a
very valuable by-product brought about in the
course of the accomplishment of pieces of work that
for other reasons deserve to be done/' The
"other reasons" in the case of penmanship are its
practical value and its conventional value. Does
it possess also, as an incidental by-product, dis-
ciplinary value?

94 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

I do not know whether there is very much general
development that comes from penmanship. It
is not one of the traditional culture subjects like
literature, history, mathematics, and philosophy.
It is a school art. It is one of the nine modes of
expression which formed so significant a part of the
educational theory and practice of the late Colonel
Parker. He taught us, following Froebel, that
discipline or development is chiefly an outcome of
expression. It is only by means of expression that
the pupil becomes creative. While he is listening
or reading, he is a mere sponge. When he expresses
his ideas by writing or drawing or modeling, he
selects his own language, rearranges his material,
and produces something that is original.

Moreover, the cultivation of motor control is
mental discipline, just as much as learning history,
or literature, or logic. Writing belongs to the
executive part of the soul. As Earl Barnes says:

A child, or a man, is a unit. Whenever a nervous system is
so trained that it enables its possessor to cut to a line, to make
a good chair, a good picture, or a good written letter, it has pre-
pared the mind to think "twice two is four." Manual training
is not drawing, and penmanship is not thinking, but any kind
of good and accurate work trains the nervous system and the
mind for good work in any other field of activity (4:389).

There are many subjects in the course of study
that are not well understood by illiterate or slightly

OF HANDWRITING 95

educated parents. Whether nature study is well
or 01 taught in any given grade few laymen would
be able to decide. The same may be said of
elementary history and geography. Courses of
study differ as to the grade where these subjects
begin, the order of their development, and the
method of teaching them. But any parent can tell
whether a child writes well or ill; and satisfactory
progress in this art goes far to persuade people that
the school is doing satisfactory work in other
things.

The ability to write a good letter is a measure
that most people apply as a test of progress in
school. The acknowledgments of gifts and greet-
ings which children write to their friends always
elicit a favorable or unfavorable comment on the
part of the recipients of such letters. Beautiful
and legible penmanship covers a multitude of sins.
You will recall how Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage
Patch, because her late husband had so few virtues,
never failed to dwell on the fine hand he wrote.
The only object we have in writing anything is to
enable some one to read what we have written.
Why should we not try to render the task of reading
as easy and pleasurable as possible?

4. Subjective or interpretative value. I think we
shall have to admit that penmanship has little
value of this kind except as we use it to interpret

96 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

character and as experts use it in legal proceedings
to identify the authors of forgery or the writers of
anonymous communications of a libelous or crimi-
nal character.

5. Ethical value. I discovered, as a class teacher,
that writing and drawing are among the most
valuable aids in reforming "bad" children. If you
succeed in making a troublesome child write a good
copy, praise him for it. That immediately raises his
self-respect and his respect for you. He will feel,
even if he does not say so, "Well, my teacher does
know how to teach writing." And if on a lucky
day such a pupil should be selected as a helper to
show other children how to write, his cup of happi-
ness would be filled. It is a well-known fact that
numbers of children who are inapt at book study
and intellectual pursuits, take kindly to any kind of
manual exercise. Hence writing, drawing, or shop
work has been .the initial step in the reform of many
a delinquent.

6. Time value. How much is penmanship worth
in terms of a 1500-minute time schedule? If the
median time devoted to the subject is 75 minutes a
week, that is 5 per cent of the school time. If the
school year is about 180 days of 5 hours each,
the total annual school time is 900 hours, and for
8 years it is 7200 hours. Five per cent of that
is 36 hours, or 72 school days. Is that too much

OF HANDWRITING 97

time to devote to the acquisition of an art that has
great social and vocational value throughout the
life of an individual? In the writer's opinion the
time is not excessive if the outcome is satisfactory.
But unfortunately in many cases the harvest is so
meager that it does not pay for the labor expended
in its production.

The above statement, however, applies to other
parts of the curriculum as well as to penmanship.
For the distribution of skill among teachers is no
exception to the general law of variability in nature.
A certain proportion possess a median grade of
ability, say 40 per cent, 20 per cent are above the
average, 10 per cent far above the average, while
about 20 per cent are below the average, and 10
per cent far below the average, It is inevitable
that in the course of his career a pupil should fall
into the hands of one or more incompetent teachers.
It may be his luck to have a succession of them.
And then again, many teachers are successful in other
subjects but failures in handwriting, while a few are
skilful in penmanship and poor in other subjects.

'There are so many factors in the production of
good writing that the time element alone may be
an insignificant part of the entire situation. Among
seven school systems examined, Thorndike found
two that, while devoting no special time to hand-
writing, had penmanship equal in quality to that

98 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

of three other systems in which 75 minutes a week
was spent on the subject. Dr. J. M. Rice discov-
ered similar facts about spelling in 1897. Schools
that devoted 60 minutes a day to the subject had
no better spelling than those that employed only
15 minutes a day. For this reason Rice came to
the conclusion that all spelling time in excess of
15 minutes a day is wasted.

In New York the official writing time is 75
minutes a week for the first six years and 60 min-
utes for the last two.

In St. Louis the first three grades have 80 min-
utes a week, the next three 120 minutes, and the
last two 60 minutes. This is an average of 90
minutes for the eight years.

CHAPTER VI

THE SUPERVISION OP HANDWRITING

The Need of Supervision. The teacher seldom real-
izes how much of her success is due to efficient
supervision or how much of her failure, where there
is failure, is due to inadequate supervision. In fact,
teachers have been known to ask, Why are super-
visors? Why is a principal? Why is a district
superintendent? Let other arts furnish the answer.
Here is a comment on acting by John Peter Toohey,
general manage/of the Modern Theater Company,
which produced Molnar's play, Fashions far Men.
The extract is part of a letter published in Hey-
wood Broun's column in the New York World:

You said that fine acting was largely a matter of inspiration;
that experience helped the actor little, that practice helped Hfrn
less, and intelligence not at all.

Because you "write too plausibly and because I myself have
never given the subject any real thought I believed you. Then
the rehearsals for Molnar's Fashions for Men began and I had
before my eyes a practical test of your theory. And now I tell
you that you were utterly wrong. I can tell you that the acting
which you praised so cordially in your recent review of the
Molnar play was the result not of accident or inspiration but of
careful, painstaking planning and preparation. The company
and it is a company of rather more than average intelligence
was started off largely on its own devices. Every player was

99

100 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

permitted to move and gesticulate and read as he saw fit. The
result was chaos. Then, bit by bit, the director began to shape
and revise the player's conception of mood, his idea of pace and
pitch and emphasis, his scheme of gesture and movement. I was
amazed in the end to see how little of the players' own concep-
tion remained.

This state of affairs is not peculiar to Fashions for Men. It is
inevitable with every play that bears the remotest resemblance
to life, for the actors are merely the voices of the orchestra, and
however competent they may be individually they will fail to
achieve harmony without the conductor's controlling hand.
Here and there, to be sure, may come a solo passage for the first
violin or the oboe wherein individual virtuosity may shine, but
the bulk of the composition is a matter of teamwork, of absolute
subordination to a harmonic plan.

Aye, there's the rub! Left to his own devices the actor is apt
to treat every phase as a bravura passage. He is concerned
with his own r61e and not with his proper place in the pattern.

Substitute "teacher" for "actor" in this passage,
and you have a perfect description of what happens
to a school where every player is permitted to move
and gesticulate and read as he sees fit. The result is
chaos. It is absolutely necessary to have a leader
who decides where each actor's proper place is in
the pattern.

On the same day in which the letter on acting was
published, Mr. Deems Taylor, the World's musical
critic, wrote this:

What Pom/oZ needs at the Metropolitan is not primarily
siegers or better scenery or a better orchestra (Mr.

OF HANDWRITINC5 101

Bodanzky conducted a really eloquent performance), but a
little more imagination. There seems to be no one in charge
who combines the knowledge of what to do with the authority
to get it done.

The weaknesses were individually negligible and collectively
disastrous. The knights had been told what to do and did it;
but they did everything together, as if fastened to a common
string. The singers had obviously been allowed to choose their
own costumes. Some of them, notably Mr. Bender's and Mr,
WhitehilPs, were perfect. Some were all wrong. Parsifal wore
a simple, knee-length garment, just as Wagner said he should;
but it is doubtful if Wagner had meant the garb to be cut and
worn in such wise that Parsifal looked more like Anne Penning-
ton than a Knight of the Grail. In the seduction scene Kundry
wore a form-fitting, heavily beaded gown that looked gorgeous,
but that clanked and tinkled at every move with the sound of
glass porti&res. In her more impassioned moments she nearly
drowned the orchestra.

Nor could one manage any emotion except that of mirth
during the spear-throwing episode, when the spear, sliding
languidly down its perfectly visible wire, slowed down obligingly
and stopped with a jerk over Parsifal's head, waiting to be un-
hooked. And never, never, shall we become reconciled to a
Kundry, meek, penitent, kneeling before Parsifal with her wild
and abundant tresses perfectly marcelled.

There must be a way of doing these things differently. Per-
haps, some time, the Metropolitan will discover it.

Here we have an accurate picture of a school with
good teachers and a poor principal, "where weak-
nesses are individually negligible and collectively
disastrous," because the teachers, though compe-

102 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

tent, "have failed to achieve harmony without the
conductor's controlling hand."

It is an axiom in our profession that no school is
any better than its principal.

CtrsRENT PRACTICE IN THE SUPERVISION OP HANDWRITING

Replies to questionnaire. In order to ascertain
how penmanship is supervised at present in urban
communities, the author addressed the following
circular to one hundred and thirteen cities of fifty
thousand inhabitants or over:

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Office of the District Superintendent
11 Hubert St. , New York
Nov. 8, 1922

My dear Superintendent:

If you have a Director or Supervisor
of PerDnanship, please hand him this
circular. If you hare no such official,
consign 'this at once to your waste "basket*

To the Director or Supervisor of
Penmanship

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am trying to find the best way
to supervise penmanship. Therefore I
should be pleased to receive from
you:

1. A brief general description
of your method of supervision.

OF HANDWRITING 103

2. Any syllabus, instructions,
circulars, or other documents
issued "by you.

Very truly yours,
JOSEPH S." TAYLOR.

District Superintendent of Schools
Districts 1 and 7

<The following table gives the names of the thirty-
five cities that answered the questionnaire:

THIRTY-FIVE CITIES REPORTING

City

Baltimore, Md.
Binghampton, N. Y.

Boston, Mass.
Buffalo,N.Y.
Chattanooga, Term,
Columbus, Ohio
Chicago, HI.
Detroit, Mich.
Elizabeth, N. J.
Flint, Mich.
Grand Rapids, Mich.

Harrisburg, Pa.
Hartford, Conn.
Houston, Texas
Lowell, Mass.
Los Angeles, Calif.

Supervisor

Joseph D. Noonan

Mrs. Elizabeth
Landon

Bertha A. Connor

Clara R. Emens

Sammie Cleveland

Zaner-Boser Co.

None

Lena A. Shaw

G. G. Gudmundson

Jean G. Farr

Theodocia Carpen-
ter

None

Louis H. Stanley

Anna Kelso

Margaret Garvey

R. E. Wiatt

In Tehr.

Syllabus Tr. Sch.

Zaner System

Zaner System

Palmer System

Palmer System

Yes

Yes Yes

No

Palmer System

Palmer System

Palmer System

Yes

Yes

Yes

Zaner System

Zaner System

KM SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

CITIES REPORTING (Continued)

City

Laurence, Mass.
Newark, N. J.

New Haven, Conn.
Omaha, Nebr.
Providence, R. L
Rochester, N. Y.
Reading, Pa.
Richmond, Va.
St. Louis, Mo.
Salt Lake City,Utah
St. Paul, Minn.
South Bend, Ind.
Syracuse, N. Y.
Springfield, Mass.
Scranton, Pa.
Tacoma, Wash.
Trenton, N. J.
New York, N.Y.
Worcester, Mass.

Supervisor Syllabus

None Yes

Raymond C. Good- Zaner System

fellow

Harry Houston
J. A. Savage
Frances E. Watts
Edward C. Mills
Ethel Shelly
W. C. Locker
H. C. Walker
Arthur J. Becker
Yes

Cora A. Ney
C. S. Chambers
None

Hazel E. Smeed
John 0. Peterson Outlines
Alice E. Benbow Zaner System
None Yes

Margaret B. Toole Bulletins

In Tchr.
Tr. Sch.

Yes

Zaner System

Palmer System
Locker System
Yes

Bulletin

Weekly outlines

Yes

Zaner System

Yes

A personal letter from Associate Superintendent
Oliver P. Cornman informs the writer that "we have
now in Philadelphia a supervisor of handwriting
who has been working in a few schools. . * . Next
month we get five more supervisors, and year by
y^aar we hope to increase the number until we shall
have intensive supervision of this work."

OF HANDWRITING 105

The information given in the replies is here sum-
marized:

Outline

1. The Purpose of Penmanship Training

2. The Need of a Supervisor

3. The Course of Study

4. Motivation

5. Training of the Teachers

6. The Demonstration Lesson

7. Testing

8. Miscellaneous Suggestions

9. Fewer Movement Drills and More Application

10. Tracing

11. Pen and Ink

12. Departmental Teaching

In the discussion which follows frequent reference
is made to the returns of the questionnaire.

From the Research Bulletin of the National Edu-
cation Association for March, 1923, we learn that
the following nineteen additional cities have super-
visors of penmanship: Birmingham, Ala.; Oakland,
Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Bridgeport, Conn.; Indian-
apolis, Ind.; Louisville, Ky.; Minneapolis, Minn.;
Canxden, N. J.; Paterson, N. J.; Yonkers, N.Y.;
Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio;
Youngstown, Ohio; Portland, Me.; Pittsburgh, Pa.;
Nashville, Tenn.; DaUas, Tex.; Fort Worth, Tex.
We have thus accounted for fifty cities that employ
one or more supervisors of handwriting.

106 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

Is the Technical Supervisor of Handwriting Necessary?
The writer was probably in error in advising super-
intendents who have no penmanship supervisors to
consign his circular to the waste basket. The result
is that all but a few of the replies are from cities that
employ a supervisor. It would have been illumi-
nating to learn the methods used in cities that de-
pend entirely upon principals for supervision. That
is the case in New York and is the specific problem
of the author. But as questionnaires are among
the burdens of the modern superintendent the writer
did not care to issue a second circular to mend his
error.

One superintendent, Mr. E. E. Lewis, of Rock-
ford, Illinois, says bluntly that he doesn't believe
in the supervision of penmanship by experts and
that, in his judgment, it is a waste of time and
money to overemphasize mechanical methods of
teaching penmanship. At the other pole is Mr.
R. E. Wiatt, of Los Angeles, who thinks that "a
good live bunch of writing supervisors and assist-
ants is the prime requisite." Between these ex-
tremes stands Superintendent Sheridan, of Law-
rence, Mass., who says that he had a supervisor
some years ago when he introduced the Palmer
system, but for fourteen years he has had none.

This question is bound up with one's theory of
supervision and teaching and the function of pen-

OF HANDWRITING 107

manship. The expert is undoubtedly needed some-
where. A course of study in writing ought to be
made; and it cannot be made properly by a super-
intendent and his committees unless they can
qualify as writing masters. We admit this freely
in other special subjects like music, drawing, cook-
ing, and manual training. Writing, though one of
the Three B/s, is really a manual art, and should be
governed by principles of psychology and physi-
ology, as well as by the experience of experts. Some
of the larger cities find it impracticable to employ a
staff of writing masters to teach in the classrooms.
They therefore depend upon the class teacher to do
the work. In this case the regular teacher should
be required to qualify in the kind of writing she is
expected to teach.

In New York this is accomplished in a number of
different ways. Some years ago many schools
voluntarily adopted, with official sanction, the
Palmer system, and, as is well known, Mr. Palmer
will not be responsible for the writing of any class
unless the teacher thereof practices to the point of
perfection the Palmer method. In this way thou-
sands of our teachers became expert writers. Then
the Department of Education opened normal pen-
manship classes in the evening high schools of the
city, and teachers were encouraged to take these
courses. A little later special teachers of penman-

108 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

ship were appointed in the training schools, so that
all the graduates of these institutions are now expert
writers. The result is that today probably fifty per
cent of our teaching and supervising staff are fine
penmen.

But mastery of the subject, though a large part
of the necessary equipment of the teacher, is not
quite the whole of it. Even if one hundred per cent
of the teachers were good writers, supervision would
still be necessary.

The writer has been reluctantly compelled to
revise his opinion on this subject by the results of
the experiment detailed in chapters VII, VIII, and
IX of this treatise. After the first survey he was
quite confident that principals and their assistants
as now trained in New York were able to supervise
writing as well as other common branches. Seven
of the twenty-five schools had achieved the pre-
scribed standard in every grade and all of them had
reached the standard in some grades. He was opti-
mistic enough to believe that in another year he
could bring all of them up to grade. He has been
cured of this optimism, for the second survey proved
that, while some schools had improved enormously,
others had actually lost ground!

An Experiment in the Supervision of Handwriting
(58). The Detroit experiment in supervision, which
had apt been made known when my own experiment

OF HANDWRITING 109

began, throws considerable light on this question.
The author of the report is supervisor of handwriting
in the public schools of Detroit. In order to meas-
ure the effect of supervision, a preliminary survey
of penmanship was made in all the schools of the
city. During the term ending June, 1919, the
schools were divided into four groups of twenty-
three each. The point scores for rate and quality
were tabulated and the quartiles computed. An
equal number of schools whose results fell into the
upper, middle, and lower quartiles was put into each
group, so that the groups would be well balanced.

Group I was not visited by the supervisor at all.

Group II was visited twice by the supervisors.
About fifteen minutes were given to each room.
The teacher gave the lesson and the supervisor gave
little help, his presence being the chief stimulus to
improvement.

The rank of each school in Group III was made
known, so that supervisors could give more help to
schools that needed it most. Two visits were made
to each school in this group.

The schools of Group IV were visited in the same
manner as those of Group III, but further informa-
tion was given. Not only the rank of each school
was known, but also the rank of each room. Spe-
cial attention was given to rooms ranking in the
lowest quartiles.

110^ SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

The results were as follows:

(1) Group I made a medium of 29.1 per cent

of possible gain.

(2) Group II made 35.8 per cent gain.

(3) Group III made 40.1 per cent gain.

(4) Group IV made 37.4 per cent gain.
The general conclusions are:

(1) Supervision pays.

(2) That supervision is most effective which

gives special attention to those who
need it most.

This is another instance of confirming common
sense and common experience by scientific experi-
ment. The ultimate result of the experiment was
the permanent adoption of this method of super-
vision in the city of Detroit.

The Technical Supervisor Indispensable. This is
proved to the writer's satisfaction by his own ex-
periment as well as that of Detroit.

(1) Teachers are incapable of making scientific
surveys. One thing is perfectly obvious as a result
of these two surveys; namely, that teachers without
special training cannot successfully use our writing
scale to measure their products. Seventeen schools
reported that they had used the scale. On many
desks I found packages of writing drills that had
been scored. In nearly every instance the class
median was marked higher than the grade standard.

OF HANDWRITING 111

Yet the scientific survey shows that some of these
same teachers are far below standard and that they
are making no progress. Such scoring is worse than
useless because it gives teachers a false sense of
security. Ordinary judgment seems to be safer
than inaccurate scoring. Mr. Nif enecker's assistant,
iMr. Hentz, found it necessary to have ten sessions of
several hours each before his seventy-nine scorers
were able to do work that had scientific validity.

But after all, no one should be surprised at this
discovery. The instruments of scientific measure-
ment are highly technical, and require delicate ad-
justment and manipulation which only the expert
can achieve. We need no demonstration of the
fact that a game of skill like golf requires long prac-
tice under expert guidance to make a good score.
To become really proficient requires years of prac-
tice. This is true also of skill in law and medicine and
preaching and teaching. Many things can be taught
by books and lectures and classroom instruction, but
actual skill, whether of the surgeon, the lawyer, or
the preacher, can come only by experience.

The tools of the intellect demand as much prac-
tice as those of the hand. All intelligence and
achievement scales are such tools. An apprentice
may use them, but his product will be as crude and
imperfect as that of the beginner in golf, or car-
pentry, or painting. Only the master workman can

112 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

turn out a marketable product in industry. The
same is true in the field of educational measure-
ment. The reason why this matter is thus stressed
here is because, for the first time, the writer has
become thoroughly convinced of the facts in the
case. It is a serious matter to exploit children by
investigations when the investigators are so ill quali-
fied for their task that the results are worthless.
Here is a case where Josh Billings' saying applies:
"It is better to know less than to know so much
that ain't so."

Superintendent Ettinger was therefore merely
protecting the children when he issued his recent
order that all scientific measurement work is to be
supervised and controlled hereafter by our depart-
ment of Reference and Research. When our Board
of Superintendents supplied the teachers with a
handwriting scale, they took an important first step
toward improvement in penmanship, but unless
and until they provide training for teachers in the
use of the scale, no useful purpose will be served by
that instrument.

(2) Inspirational supervision alone is inadequate
to solve our penmanship troubles. There are two
types of schools and classes that render this kind of
supervision futile, namely:

(a) Those who refuse to cooperate. They may
or may not be able to produce satisfactory results.

OF HiANDWRITING 113

In any case, they won't try. Such cases are rare
in my experience. My people have been most
loyal and helpful in their attitude. The conceited
principal or teacher thinks he knows how to run
his own school or class and needs no outsider to
tell him how. He may be an excellent writer him-
self, and so he forgets that playing golf and teaching
another to play are two totally different processes,
He takes John Adams literally, who says that "all
a teacher needs is a knowledge of his subject and a
sense of humor!"

(b) Those who are willing but incapable. They
are perfectly docile and try to follow your sugges-
tions. But somehow they lack the power to get
results. They need some one who will take the
class and show exactly how the trick is done.

(3) An attitude of complacency. A third reason
why we need a technical supervisor is that many
teachers do not realize how poor their penmanship
is. They are self-satisfied and imagine that the
writing is good enough. In a recent article (59),
Mr. J. B. Shouse says that the "attitude of com-
placence'' is one of the obstacles to good hand-
writing. During his investigation he found many
writers "who declined to admit the imputation "
that the writing was poor. He says further that
"in the matter of the quality of handwriting, care-
lessness is the normal attitude." This is because a

114 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

" person's handwriting is nearly always legible to
himself/' and "one is not always a reliable critic of
one's own performance/' and writers "are not suffi-
ciently aware of the detailed defects of their own
handwriting." To the attitude of complacence may
also be added a shadow of the green-eyed monster.
If you doubt this bring an exhibit of superior pen-
manship to a conference of principals. Some will
not deign even to glance at the specimens. A few
will examine them with more or less care. None
will ask for permission to take them home to be
used as models for their own teachers.

(4) The difficulty of breaking up old habits. Mr.
Shouse suggests a fourth explanation of the mea-
ger results in the improvement of handwriting.
" To modify a habit requires attention, but the habit
may be exercised without particular attention to
the act"; and furthermore, the "modification of a
habit in the direction of improvement is more diffi-
cult than the formation of a habit." The purpose
of all writing instruction, after a pupil knows the
forms of the letters, is the improvement of hand-
writing habits. But the demand for a large amount
of written work wherein writing is used as a tool
tends to nullify the teacher's efforts to obtain im-
provement. The formal writing drills are always
better than the applied writing found in spelling,
dictation, composition exercises, and notebooks.

OF HANDWRITING 115

Significance of the Principal's Attitude. St. Louis has
one supervisor of penmanship and seven assistants.
If New York were as well supplied with writing
supervisors as St. Louis is, we should have a head
supervisor with fifty-seven assistants ! There would
be two experts for each district superintendent and
nine additional ones for special assignment.

In the St. Louis Survey a study was made of the
relation of the principal's attitude toward penman-
ship and the achievements of his school in the sub-
ject. Principals were classed by the supervisors as
"favorable," "passive," or "antagonistic." The
outcome of the study is inconclusive. A group of
schools whose principals were classed as passive or
antagonistic to the supervisors had better penman-
ship than another group whose principals were said
to be favorable. Perhaps it would be just to say
that some supervisors were able to get results in
spite of the principal.

But where there are no expert supervisors and the
results in handwriting depend entirely upon the
principal, his attitude is all important. If he is
indifferent or incompetent, penmanship, like other
subjects, will languish. The following quotation,
whose authorship I have forgotten, emphasizes the
fact that writing systems cannot teach themselves:

So long as there are principals and teachers who are unwilling
to assume their obvious duty in connection with the teaching 'oi

116 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

practical handwriting, there will continue to be new, untried
systems of penmanship, which will be offered by their "authors,
publishers, and agents as panaceas for all the chirographic ills of
the present and future generations. All of the new systems of
penmanship, whether they contain a modicum of good, or are
wholly bad, will find eager apostles, who are still seeking that
intangible something in a penmanship system which will teach
itself and relieve teachers from the responsibility of learning how
to teach practical handwriting. This feverish anxiety to avoid
personal responsibility in connection with the teaching of pen-
manship reminds us of an old and almost forgotten hymn, one
verse of which runs about as follows:

As when a raging fever burns

We change from side to side by turns,

It is but poor relief we gain

To change the place and keep the pain.

The Course of Study- Only a few of the cities re-
porting mention a course of study in handwriting.
Trenton has just adopted one. New York has a
complete course of study and syllabus, as well as
an official scale, standardized letter forms, and
grade achievement norms. Eight of the cities use
the Zaner system, which takes the place of a course
of study, and six employ the Palmer system. Most
of the other cities send! out periodic instructions
which teachers follow; in lieu of a printed syllabus.
One gets the impression that writing has been a
sort of Cinderella among the sisterhood of studies,
receiving scant and reluctant attention only when
it threatened to bring scandal upon the family.

OF HANDWRITING 117

If this silence concerning a course of study in
handwriting means that the average American
community has no definite curriculum in penman-
ship, then we have one sufficient reason for the un-
satisfactory results in school writing. In penman-
ship, as in other arts, there should be grading from
the simple to the more complex forms and drills,
with provision for systematic review and applica-
tion. In New York we have not only a syllabus,
but in the writer's district, we have a complete set
of writing plans made by a committee of principals
and teachers, covering the sixteen grades, each plan
containing eighteen graded lessons, and each lesson-
whole containing a week's work, which may be
divided into three, four, or five lessons.

The weekly plan is a sort of project with a definite
aim and graded steps leading to a concrete achieve-
ment. For instance, the first week of Grade 2A
begins with a drill on capital M. This is followed
by a drill on ary. The synthesis of the two gives
us Mary for the next task. Then the two words
has and doll receive attention, after which comes
the final achievement, Mary has a doll. The sixth
week of Grade 5A opens with one line of push-pull
and one line of ovals. This is followed by alternate
ovals and capital T's; then a line of T*$; then alter-
nate ovals and F's; then P's; two lines of h's; two
of oval and ench; oval and C, Canada; oval and

118 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

tiled; and the final sentence repeated: The French
settled Canada.

On the cover of each plan we give the syllabus
requirement for the grade and the grade stand-
ards; e.g.:

5a

Penmanship Plan
18 Weeks
Syllabus

Muscular movement applied in Drill on straight line and ovals.
Review of capitals and small letters. Much sentence practice.
Drill on figures.

Grade Standards

Form 47

Movement 48

Spacing. 51

Speed 59

CNew York Penmanship Scale)

The district writing plans embody the writer's
own theory of penmanship and were worked out
under his direction by experienced teachers and
supervisors of the subject. At the time the plans
were made none of the committee were familiar
with the innovations of Houston and Mills, nor had
Professor Freeman yet published the following
extract (The Elementary School Journal, Septem-
ber, 1923):

Modern progressive instruction in handwriting departs -widely
from the older type of instruction in the character of the drill

OP HANDWRITING 119

which is given. A large share of the time of the pupil used to be
spent, and is still spent in many cases, on exercises which are
preliminary to writing. Instead of actually writing, the pupil
spends his time in a kind of setting-up exercise. It is as though
a person in training to be a carpenter should spend his time in
calisthenics. We are familiar with the ovals and push-and-pull
exercises which sometimes occupy a large share of the writing
period. . . . The greater part of the practice in handwriting
should be spent on actual writing. There are at least two im-
portant reasons why practice should be, for the most part, on
letters and words:

(a) If the practice is on letters, the pupil is learning to make
the same kind of movement which he is required to make in all
his writing. If the practice is on simplified forms, on the other
hand, the pupil is almost sure to develop a kind of movement
which he does not use in his ordinary writing. . . .

(b) The second reason why purely formal drill should be
reduced to a minimum is that writing is primarily a means of
communication or expression of thought. If the pupil spends
an unusually large amount of time on purely mechanical exer-
cises, the mechanics of the writing are likely to obtrude them-
selves too strongly on his mind, even when he is writing wholly
for the purpose of communicating thought.

Motivation. The term motivation is not new. It
is older than any of the modern theories of interest,
but its present educational connotation has been
acquired quite recently. Professor McMurry's use
of it in the New York School Inquiry has had con-
siderable influence in giving the term its present
status in educational history.

The significance of motivation is best appreci-

120 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

ated by a brief historical consideration of interest.
Such a review would show a progressive develop-
ment of the idea. From Pestalozzi we learned that
sense perception is the basis of elementary instruc-
tion, and hence "object lessons " came into vogue.
We soon discovered, however, that object lessons
might become very tedious to children, and pres-
ently this form of teaching was superseded by a
new fashion* Then came Herbart with his interest
and apperception, and later Dewey with his self-
expression, and later still the schoolman of today
with his motivation and the project

The essence of all modern theories of interest is
that it is the result of knowledge or activity. Some
educators look upon interest as a means of securing
attention, "hoping that the knowledge will remain
after interest has departed"; but the Herbartians
taught us that it is the business of education to
incite an interest that will abide after the knowledge
has passed away. Thus we speak when we refer
tp subjects like literature, science, geography, or
history. But penmanship is not a subject; it is an
art, a mere tool of education, without intrinsic
thought. It does not fully function until it is
automatic; that is, until it has been turned over to
the nerve centers. There is therefore small chance
of a permanent interest in penmanship as such.

What we mean by motivating penmanship, there-

OF HANDWRITING 121

fore, amounts generally to the employment of tem-
porary devices to entice children to practice drills
which are in themselves, like dishwashing, un-
interesting. In other words, we employ indirect
rather than direct interest. The following forms
of this sort of motivation are reported by the
various supervisors who answered my questionnaire:

1. Competition: Divide the class into two teams, and play
one against the other, selected pupils acting as leaders. Or
play school against school in the same district.

2. Tests by standard scales, the object being to attain the
grade scale.

3. Certificates of merit issued by the supervisor or principal.
Two cities employ this device extensively.

4. Gummed stars attached to meritorious papers.

5. Buttons, badges, etc.

6. Honor RoUs in classroom.

7. Excuse pupil from formal drills as soon as he has achieved
his grade standard. But measure Ms writing frequently, and
if he backslides, put him back on the treadmill!

8. The joy of achievement. This is direct interest and real
motivation. It accompanies all successful effort. With the
best kind of teacher it is all the incentive needed.

The most skilful writing teacher in my district
employs no adventitious aids of any kind, and the
children are always eager for the writing lesson.
But such teachers of penmanship are so rare that It
is idle to expect all to employ only the highest
incentives. To secure adequate results from the

122 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

average teacher we must make concessions to
human nature as we find it and permit her to use
any devices that serve to keep children at their
drill until they reach the stage of automatism.

To this list may be added exemption from special
supervision of any school that has attained grade
standards in every class. It is conceivable that a
staff of supervisors might be so efficient that they
would lose their jobs !

Training the Teachers. Ten cities report normal
classes conducted by the supervisor. Pour have
general conferences from time to time where in-
struction and criticism are offered. Three super-
visors, after spending a day in school, have a con-
ference with the staff after dismissal for the discus-
sion of the day's findings. Four supervisors give
tests in every room and then furnish each teacher
with graphs to show the attainment of the class as
a whole and of individual pupils. Three cities have
grade meetings. Four provide penmanship in-
struction in the training school for teachers and
require all graduates to qualify in the subject.
Many cities send outlines at stated intervals, giving
definite instruction to teachers. Others have group
conferences, arrange exhibits, or use motion pic-
tures. In two cases all teachers must qualify ac-
cording to a specific scale in order to secure and hold
their positions. In one city a trained scorer is

OF HANDWRITING 123

provided in each school to show other teachers and
the children how to use the scale.

1. Who gives the lesson ? When a supervisor visits
a teacher in the classroom, what form of supervi-
sion does he give? In ten of the cities he gives a dem-
onstration lesson while the teacher observes what
he does. In three cases the teacher gives the lesson
and the supervisor observes. Some of the super-
visors have so many teachers to visit that the
demonstration lesson is impossible. These there-
fore examine the written products, observe the
children and teachers at work, make comments,
and depart. Others, who have more time, spend an
entire writing period in the room and do all the work.

2. Query: Which is the better plan?

If we accept the old Lacedemonian's dictum that
the chief business of the teacher is to make himself
useless, 1 then the majority of supervisors reporting
are wrong. They do too much for the teachers. A
class in physical training is not going to get much
physical development by watching the teacher go
through the exercises. Neither is there much
nourishment in seeing other people eat. It seems
to the writer that those supervisors have the sound-
est pedagogy who let the teacher do the work, for
skill in any art comes by practice, practice, practice.
Occasionally a demonstration lesson is very useful

1 The theory and practice of the Dalton Plan of education are a literal
application of this principle.

124 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

even as a concert by Paderewski is of inestimable
value to the student of the piano. But observation
is but a supplement of practice, not a substitute
for it.

Special teachers of drawing, music, and physical
training in New York plan the work for the teach-
ers, interpret the syllabus, visit the classes, observe
the teachers at work, evaluate the results of in-
struction, but give the lesson only occasionally for
beginners and unsuccessful teachers. Writing su-
pervisors, if we had any, would doubtless follow a
similar procedure. In this way the teacher gets
development as well as the children. Spoon feed-
ing is necessary for infants, but is not desirable for
adults unless they are sick.

Movement Drills. Two supervisors, as we have
already seen (p. 32), in cities remote from each
other, have come independently to the conclusion
that time is wasted by the customary oval and
straight-line movement drills. Mr. Harry Hous-
ton, of New Haven, has developed a system of
writing which employs none of these drills. Arm
movement is secured by writing letters an inch or
more in height, and then gradually grading the
writing down to the normal size. Of the usual
movement drills Mr. Houston has this to say:

This method was started in business colleges or in special
penmanship schools. The students were adults who were pur-

OF HANDWRITING 125

suing but two or three subjects. Much, time was given to prac-
tice. These methods have been handed down and put into the
grades where the conditions are radically different. The stu-
dents are children instead of adults. The curriculum has in-
creased to such an extent that only a comparatively small
amount of time is possible for penmanship instruction.

In like vein writes Mr. E. C. Mills, of Rochester:

I have completely eliminated the oval and push-and-pufl
practice in the teaching of handwriting and develop all move-
ment in letter formation.

When Mr. Houston called upon the writer in
New York, he had with him an exhibit of handwrit-
ing done under the conditions described above. It
was very legible and beautiful writing. He claims
that in modern life, with the prevalent use of the
typewriter, speed in writing is far less significant
than legibility. In the author's survey of his dis-
trict it was found that the standard for speed was
exceeded in every grade but the highest three, while
in form all the grades but two were on an average
below standard. This indicates that the schools
of the district taken together attain speed at the
expense of form. What we need is more attention
to legibility. No effort has been made to develop
speed. It is apparently the natural result of the
great amount of applied writing children have to
do in the schools of today.

These two supervisors may, of course, be simply

126 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

illustrations of the law that under a good teacher
children learn in spite of his method. It is easy to
show that the A-B-C method of teaching reading
is contrary to every known law of learning. Yet
the writer managed somehow to learn to read by
that method, or in spite of it, and so did millions
more of his and preceding generations.

Some of the objections to the excessive movement
drills, as voiced by teachers and parents, may be
summarized thus:

1. The writing has no individuality, all the chil-
dren write alike.

2* Time is wasted.

3. Children taught in this way produce writing
as illegible as that of copy-book writers of a genera-
tion ago.

4. Teachers break down from overstrain.

5. Half the teachers are opposed to the system.

6. Mr. C. E. Doner, director of penmanship in
the three State Normal Schools of Bridgewater,
Framingham, and Salem, Mass., says: 1

I think that some advocates of muscular movement systems
have shot over the heads of the children, especially in the lower
grades. They have introduced business college methods of
teaching penmanship into the graded schools, without taking
into account a well-graded course of study and practice which
safeguards the interests of the child, rather sacrificing the child
to make a success of some method of writing,

tltfiGm Boston Trawler, Dec. 19, 1922,

OF HANDWRITING 127

The " grind" on movement drills which the children have to
go through doesn't warrant the expenditure of time put upon
them to learn to write. Much valuable school time is wasted
in the practice of meaningless drills which have no direct interest
to children. Why not devote the time to actual writing, thus
aiding the children to express themselves in plain characters in
their own language?

It is the writer's opinion, based on twenty-five
years of experience in supervision, that there is
waste of time in abstract drills that lead to no imme-
diate and definite goal. The writing plans of our
district minimize mere movement drills and em-
phasize application to a concrete achievement in
every lesson-whole. In Mr. Freeman's new book
(25) there are no oval and push-pull exercises.

State Manuals. A number of states have issued
manuals on handwriting, of which those of New
Jersey, Massachusetts, and Ohio are examples.

1, The New Jersey Manual (36). This pamphlet
gives practical directions to teachers on methods of
teaching penmanship. The following topics, among
others, are treated:

(1) Position and penholding are emphasized.

(2) Movement, ease, and speed are insisted on.

(3) The treatment of left-handed pupils receives attention.
Teachers are advised not to require children to change if the
left-handed writing is good; nor to change when the child is
twelve years of age, or more.

^(4) A copy book or copy slip is recommended unless the
teacher is an expert writer.

128 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

(5) Blackboard work is declared to be essential.

(6) Beginners should practice on the blackboard.

(7) The time schedule should provide a daily writing period
of ten or fifteen minutes and a weekly total of seventy-five
minutes.

(8) Blackboard crayons or wax pencils or large soft black
pencils are recommended for the first year, pen and ink after
that.

(9) Only the best materials are good enough.

(10) Ruling should be for base line only in all grades.

(11) Distance between lines should be as follows: First year,
1 inch; second year, f of an inch; third year, J inch; after that,
f of an inch.

(12) In the seventh and eighth grades children need practice
on unruled paper since much of the social stationery is without
lines.

(13) It is important to pass and collect material without
waste of time.

(14) The teacher should write in the presence of children so
that they may observe the process.

(15) The incentives recommended are:

(a) Personal interest and enthusiasm of the

teacher.

(b) Preserving and exhibiting written work.

(c) Exchanging specimens between class-

rooms.

(d) Committees of pupils to decide what chil-

dren have the best position and writ-
ing.

(16) The writing of exercises in other subjects is the real test
f success in penmanship.

OF HANDWEITING 129

2. The Massachusetts Manual (44). The time
recommended in this book is 75 minutes a week for
the first two years; 100 minutes for the next four
years. Certain principles of teaching are empha-
sized, as follows:

(1) The teacher has not taught until the pupil has learned.
^(2) The writing teacher must know as much about writing as
she does about other subjects in the curriculum, and she must
devote as much time and skill to the planning of writing exer-
cises as she does to the planning of other lessons.

(3) In all instruction involving skill or dexterity, imitation is
the best means of training. Hence, the teacher must be a good
model.

(4) In penmanship the teacher must emphasize the process
rather than the product. Legibility, rapidity, ease are the essen-
tials. In teaching, maintain this order.

(5) The teaching of handwriting is successful only when the
pupil carries over into application what he learns in formal
lessons.

3. The Ohio Manual (56). The function of writ-
ing as defined by this manual is "to express, convey,
and record language in an intelligible and practical
manner." The essentials set down are these:

(1) The writing skill of the teacher in blackboard writing,
which requires only one third as much practice as good writ-
ing on paper.

(2) For three months all the writing of the beginners in the
first grade should be done on the blackboard, because such
writing is larger, freer, and less exacting than writing on paper.

130 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

(3) Position is absolutely necessary to correct movement.
The body should be straight, the paper slant, and the hand
should slide on the third and fourth fingers.

(4) Movement and form should go hand in hand from the
beginning. Each lesson should be introduced by movement
drills.

(5) Form or legibility, uniformity of size, slant, and spacing
these must be insisted on first.

(6) Counting for speed exercises is recommended, as follows:

First grade, 100 ovals per minute

Second grade, 125 ovals and from 5 to 10 words per
minute

Third grade, 150 ovals per minute

Fourth grade, 175 ovals and from 10 to 12 words per
minute

Fifth and sixth grades, 200 ovals and from 12 to 15
words per minute

Seventh and eighth grades, 200 ovals and from 15 to
20 words per minute

The average speed of six standards reported by
Freeman for the eighth grade is 79 letters per
minute. If we assume that the average number of
letters in words is four, 20 words is the equivalent
of 80 letters.

There are doubtless many more such manuals in
existence, some better, some worse. They are evi-
dence that the need of better handwriting is widely
recognized and that an attempt has been made to
improve it by state-wide regulation. All such
are useful, at least potentially; but the key

OF HANDWRITING 131

to the educational situation is where the teacher
and the pupil meet. To the child there is no
course of study except the teacher. The curriculum
can reach the pupil only as it sifts through her.
Therefore the real supervision is done in the class-
room by the principal.

CHAPTER VII

THE SUPERVISION OF HANDWRITING

(Continued)

The Measurement of Handwriting. The use of stand-
ardized scales for the measurement of handwrit-
ing is, according to my returns, common practice.
Four scales were sent to me, and these do not
include either the Ayres or Thorndike measures.
One supervisor measures every pupil's work twice
a year. A second does it three times a year.
Another applies a monthly test, and still another
has a scale posted in every room and the pupils are
taught to measure their own product. In some
cities the teachers do the measuring, in others the
principal does it. By common consent, accurate
measurement is essential to determine progress, to
give the children and teachers a definite, attainable
goal, and to supply criteria for intelligent and effec-
tive supervision.

1. Unreliability of teachers' marks. Many inves-
tigations have shown the unreliability of teachers 1
marks, even in mathematics and spelling, subjects
in which, one might suppose, there exists small
chance for variability. In penmanship, it has
been proved, not only is there great divergence of

132

OF HANDWRITING 133

opinion among different teachers concerning a given
specimen, but a single teacher marking the same
specimen at different times will assign different
values to it.

These statements may be verified by a teacher in
the following ways (48) :

(1) Take a set of papers and mark them by per-
centage or letters, putting the mark on a separate
score sheet but not on the pupils 7 papers.

(2) Lay the papers aside for a few days.

(3) Score the papers a second time without re-
ferring to the first marks. Record the second scores
on a second score sheet.

(4) After three or four days score the papers in
like manner a third time.

(5) Compare the three sets of marks. They will
vary widely in many cases.

A second test suggested is this :

(1) Mark the papers of your class.

(2) Have another teacher mark the same papers
without referring to your marks.

(3) Have the papers marked by a third teacher
independently.

(4) Compare the marks given by the three scor-
ers. The scores of the different teachers will differ
more or less widely for the same specimen of writing.

These experiments will make it plain why, on the

134 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

basis of a teacher's judgment, it is impossible to
compare one class with another, or one school with
another, or one school system with another. To
make such a comparison with any degree of fairness
it is necessary to devise some method of measuring
penmanship which shall be impersonal and make
some approach to scientific accuracy. To measure
with exactitude we must have a defined unit, so
that the result will be substantially the same no
matter who does the measuring. A scientific pro-
cedure must be so minutely and clearly set forth
that any competent person in any part of the world
can repeat it and verify or disprove the conclusions
arrived at.

2. The pioneer. To Professor Edward L. Thorn-
dike (67) belongs the credit of having formulated
the principles underlying the construction of a
writing scale, and of having actually constructed
the first scale in accordance with those principles.
The date of this achievement reminds us of the
recency of the measurement movement in educa-
tion. In the brief span of years since 1910 scores
of scales of all sorts have been devised, and now the
poor teacher is in danger of being flabbergasted by
the formidable array of technical instruments that
are thrust into his hands.

Dr. Thorndike laid down the rule that a writing
scale for grades 5 to 8, inclusive, should include

OF HANDWRITING 135

about ten qualities differing each from the next by
equal steps (that is, within four per cent of a step
or one-half per cent of the difference between the
best and the worst). One would need several thou-
sand of each kind of sample, each rated by two
hundred j udges. This means roughly four thousand
hours of labor. Hence, his scale is confessedly im-
perfect, as it did not meet the ideal conditions of
scientific accuracy. It is only a preliminary scale,
and it measures "general merit" only; namely,
legibility and regularity.

3. The Ayres Scale (2). Dr. Ayres constructed
a scale with eight degrees of quality for grades 2 to
8, inclusive. The numerical values assigned to
these degrees of merit are 20, 30, 40, etc., up to 90.
Each step of the scale is represented by three speci-
mens; namely, vertical, semi-slant, and full slant.
A later scale, also a three-slant edition, was devised
to measure the handwriting of adults. A still later
scale (1917) called the "Gettysburg Edition," has
only one specimen for each step, and each specimen
has the same copy. It furnishes standards for
speed and quality for all the grades above the
fourth.

4. Johnson and Stone Scale (34). This scale is
similar to those of Ayres and Thorndike, but is more
analytic. Each specimen of the scale is accom-
panied by an explanation of its defects, which in-

136 SUPEEVISION AND TEACHING

elude letter formation, uniformity of slant, align-
ment, spacing, quality of line, size, and degree of
slant.

5. Breed and Downs Scale (6). This scale was
made for local use in Highland Park, Michigan, by
scoring specimens with the Thorndike Scale, and
then selecting specimens for a five-step scale for
each grade from 3A to 6A, inclusive. A standard
for speed is given for each grade.

6. The Freeman Scale (20). This scale is different
from all the preceding scales in that it is really five
scales in one. It measures uniformity of slant,
uniformity of alignment, quality of line, letter for-
mation, and spacing.

7. The New York Scale (46). This scale is the
work of Mr. Clyde C. Lister and Dr, Garry C.
Myers, instructors in the Maxwell Training School,
Brooklyn, New York. Like the Freeman scale, it
is analytic. It measures form, movement, and
spacing. Under form are considered letter forma-
tion, uniformity of size, and correct slant. Move-
ment includes quality of line, whether heavy, tremu-
lous, or broken. Under spacing the writing is
judged as to uniformity of space between letters,
between parts of letters, and between words.

The standards were obtained by examining over
twelve thousand specimens, from grades 4B to 8B,
Written by children of New York public schools.

OF HANDWRITING

137

The grade standards of the New York Penman-
ship Scale are as follows:

GRADE STANDARDS

Grade

Form

Movement

Spacing

Speed
(Letters
per Minute)

4B
5A
5B
6A
6B
7A
7B
8A
8B

43
47
51
54
57
59
61
63
65

46
48
50
53
56
59
62
65
67

48
51
54
57
60
63
65
67
69

56
59
63
67
71
75
80
85
90

8. Gray's Score Card. 1 One of the most useful
devices for diagnostic measurement of handwriting
is Gray's Score Card, which is herewith presented.
Some of the scales measure general quality only,
but do not reveal the particular defects which render
the writing unsatisfactory. It is a sound principle
of teaching that a child should surmount one diffi-
culty at a time. And when he is told that his writ-
ing is poor, he is entitled to know just in what
respects he has failed. Also the teacher, in pre-
scribing remedies, must know in detail what factors
of the complex writing process need stressing. The

1 Devise4 by C. Truman Gray.

138 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

Gray card gives all this necessary information. It
also weighs the various items according to their
relative importance. Thus, the formation of letters
receives twenty-six credits out of a hundred.

Thus spacing of letters is worth 18 points, neat-
ness 13, spacing of words 11, spacing of lines 9,
alignment 8, size 7, slant 5, and heaviness of line 3.

Mr. Horace G. Healey (30), in an address on
"Penmanship in the High Schools/ 7 expresses the
opinion that penmanship is a proper and necessary
high school subject, for the reason that the ele-
mentary school pupil is too immature mentally and
physiologically to establish life habits, and for the
additional reason that there is not time enough in
the grades to do the job well. 1

The high school writing teacher, he thinks, should
do more individual work than the elementary
teacher. He should find out each pupil's needs
and then prescribe the proper exercises to meet
those needs. The Gray Score Card is the instru-
ment needed for this procedure.

9. Classification of scales according to use. It is
evident from the brief descriptions given of the
several scales that they fall into two general classes.
The Thorndike, Ayres, Johnson-Stone, and Breed-
Downs scales are used to measure the quality of
writing in general. These axe useful for making

OF HANDWRITING 139

OKAY'S SCORE CARD

Perfect
Score

1. Heaviness 3

2. Slant 5

Uniformity
Mixed

3. Size 7

Uniformity
Too large
Too small

4. Alignment 8

5. Spacing of lines 9

Uniformity
Too close
Too far apart

6. Spacing of words 11

Uniformity
Too close
Too far apart

7. Spacing of letters 18

Uniformity
Too close
Too far apart

8. Neatness 13

Blotches
Carelessness

9. Formation of letters.' 26

General form 8

Smoothness. , 6

Letters not closed. 5 <

Parts omitted 5

Parts added 2

140 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

surveys of school systems for the purposes of deter-
mining the gross merit of handwriting. The Free-
man Scale and the New York Scale and the Gray
Score Card are necessary when detailed information
is wanted to assist the teacher in adapting his in-
struction to the needs of individuals.

10. Relative value of scales. It is not easy to say
which of these scales is most reliable. As we have
pointed out, different scales are useful for different
things. If you wish to analyze in detail the merit
of a pupil's handwriting, you will use Freeman's
Scale, or Gray's Score Card, or both, or the New
York Scale. If you desire merely a measure of the
general or total achievement in handwriting, you
employ a scale like that of Ayres or Thorndike.
Several studies have been made to determine which
of the scales is morejreliable. Dr. R. Pintner (53)
thinks Thorndike's is better than that of Ayres,
while Starch finds them of equal merit, and Freeman
believes Ayres to be superior to Thorndike. When
doctors disagree how is a layman to decide? Per-
haps this statement is the real answer : Each is best
for its own purpose.

11. What is a reasonable standard? The grade
standards of the various scales are the median per-
formances of present-day school children in certain
communities. Are these proper standards? The

OF HANDWRITING

141

New York Scale is based upon achievements of New
York children. As penmanship on the average is
not of a very high grade, it is fair to ask whether
this standard is not too low. In my district survey
I found a 4B class that had attained an 8B standard
in form. This shows how much better our writing
might be if we had expert teachers. As the general
level of penmanship teaching improves, the median
performance will rise; hence it would seem that the
grade standards ought from time to time to be re-
vised in accordance with these changes.

Different scales unfortunately have different units
of measurement and different numerical values to
represent the grade of attainment. It is therefore
not easy to reduce the several scales to a common
denominator for purposes of comparison. Such a
reduction, however, has been made by Monroe (45)
and others, and is given here:

COMPARISON OF SCALES (Quality)
School Grades

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Ayres

44

47

50

55

59

64

70

Freeman

17.9

18.4

19

20

20.8

22

23

Thorndike

9.36

9.75

10.13

10.76

11.34

11.89

12.66

142 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

In the following table certain median scores are
compared with the Freeman Standards:

MEDIAN SCORES (SPEED)
School Grades

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Cleveland

60

70

76

80

Iowa Schools

39.2

49.2

61.9

65.5

72.6

75

76.5

Kansas

32

35

51

61

67

71

73

Fifty-six Cities

30.6

43.8

51.2

59.1

62.8

67.9

73

[Freeman's Stand-
ards

36

48

56

65

72

80

90

In the following table certain median scores in
quality are compared with Freeman's Standards
(on the Ayres Scale) :

MEDIAN SCOEES (QUALITY)
School Grades

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Cleveland

45

48

50

55

Iowa

35.7

39.8

44.5

49.1

52.3

57

61

Kansas

44

47

50

55

59

64

70

Fifty-six Cities

39.7

42

45.8

50.5

54.5

58.9

62.8

Ireeman's Stand-
ards

44

47

50

55

59

64

70

OF HANDWRITING 143

12. The final standard. The question has been
raised whether it would be possible to achieve the
present eighth-year standard two years earlier, so
that the formal writing lessons might cease at the
end of the sixth year. In fact, one superintendent
made the statement some years ago to the writer
that children should not be obliged to practice hand-
writing after the fifth year. This was at a time
when penmanship in New York was probably the
worst in the world ! It was before any of the experi-
mental studies of handwriting with which we are
now familiar had been made. It was therefore mere
opinion, based on neither experiment nor classroom
experience.

Nutt's researches indicate that arm movement
should not be stressed before the age of nine or ten
(Prop. 16, p. 62). If penmanship lessons were to
cease at the end of the sixth year, the pupil would
have only two years in which to acquire the desired
movement. It is self-evident that he could not
form a life habit in so brief a time. The settled
stage of handwriting does not occur before the high
school period, and perhaps not even then. The
mind and the muscles of a twelve-year-old child are
immature and plastic. It is more than probable
that if writing lessons were discontinued after grade
six, even a good writer would lapse into bad hab-
its and become a scribbler, while the poor writers

144 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

would certainly go to high school with an illegible
scrawl. When teachers of penmanship become a
hundred per cent efficient, it will be time enough
to try the experiment of eliminating the subject
after the sixth year. In the meantime we are not,
on the average, completing the job in eight years,
as one may readily prove by taking handwriting
specimens of the pupils who enter high school.

CHAPTER VIII

AN EXPERIMENT IN SUPERVISION

In the spring of 1922 the author invited the
Bureau of Reference, Research, and Statistics, of
which Mr. Eugene A, Nifenecker is the Director, to
conduct a survey of the penmanship of pupils in
school districts 1 and 7. Inasmuch as the bureau
had at its command no adequate force for the test-
ing involved, it was decided to make the survey a
cooperative project. The bureau directed the con-
duct of the tests, trained the teachers volunteering
to act as scorers, and tabulated the results. The
principals, through selected teachers, conducted
the tests, and the scoring of the papers was done
by the teachers volunteering to act in that capacity.

The report which follows describes the procedure
adopted and presents briefly the results obtained.

1. Scope of tests. Samples of handwriting were
obtained from all of the pupils of grades 4B to SB,
inclusive, in the twenty-five schools of the two dis-
tricts. Table 1 shows by grades the number of
pupils and classes involved in the test.

The samples were scored for Rate of Writing and
for Form. The other elements of quality, such as
Movement and Spacing, were not considered/

145

146 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

TABLE 1

Number of Pupils and Classes by Grades Involved in Penmanship
Survey (25 Schools)

Grades

4A

4B

5A

5B

6A

6B

7A

7B

SA

SB

9A

Totals

No. of
Classes

1

52

54

52

53

47

45

41

35

35

1

416

No. of
Pupils

19

1,909

1,978

1,912

1,945

1,699

1,633

1,425

1,219

1,193

33

14,965

2. Character of tests. The test consisted in having
the pupils write repeatedly for two minutes the fol-
lowing sentence: "One must exercise in work and
in play." The sentence had been learned before
the day of the test and attention had been given to
the word exercise, the only word in the sentence that
might have offered spelling difficulty to some of the
pupils.

3. General district results. The general results
obtained for the districts as a whole are presented
in Figure 1, which shows by grades the distribution
of scores in Form for the 15,000 pupils tested.
Figure 2 gives similar data for Rate of Writing.

(1) Results in form. The quality of writing, it
appears, increases more or less regularly. From
Figure 1 we may note the development upward
through the grades. The curve rises upward from
4B to 5A 3 drops slightly in 5B, rises in grades 6A
and 6B, drops in 7A, rises again in 7B, drops slightly
in 8A, and reaches 62.4 in grade 8B. The amount
of improvement from grades 4B to 8B is slight, from

B

70

65

5B

04

6B

7B

8A

8B

FIGURE 1
FORMOFQUALnY
OFWR1TINO

MEDIANS COMPARE

60

62.

x

55

55

$2.2

50

/50.5

48X

%2

46

45

X^

(147)

148 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

46 to 62, or 16 points, less than two steps on the
scale.

The standards for Form recently adopted by the
Board of Superintendents in the new syllabus in
penmanship are shown by the solid line in Figure 1.
Comparison of the general district medians with
such grade norms shows that with the exception of
grades 4B and 5A all grades are somewhat below
the standard. The difference is greatest in the 8A
and least in the 5B.

A prominent characteristic of the grade distribu-
tion is the wide range of scores in each grade.
Pupils of all levels of ability are found in almost
every grade. The variability in achievement re-
sults in marked overlapping of grades. The first
quartile or 25 percentile is that point in the dis-
tribution below which fall 25% of the cases, while
the third quartile or 75 percentile is that point on
the distribution above which are 25% of the cases
and below which are 75% of the scores. Between
the first and third quartile lie 50% of the cases. If
we find the difference between the two quartiles
and divide by two we obtain what is statistically
known as the semi-interquartile range, or Q. This
is used as a measure of the variability of a distribu-
tion. From the table it appears that Q in each
grade is from 7 to 10 points, a range that exceeds
considerably the difference between grade medians.

Of),

fl/5-

/

FIGURE 2
RATE OFWR1TBIG
GRADE MEDIANS
CQMPAKEDW1TH
GRADE STANDARDS

o/v

/i

/

GRADE STANDARDS
GRAM MEOWS

/

W.

//

/

/?c.

//

7

ft/V

/
f

l l

/

ec.

'/

4

BB

AS

B6

A6

B7

A7

B8

AS

B9

A

(149)

150 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

In most grades the range of the middle 50% is
greater than the difference between the median of
the 4B and the median of the 8B.

(2) Rate of writing. Figure 2 presents a distri-
bution of the pupils of each grade according to the
rate of writing in terms of number of letters per
minute.

From the figure it appears that the rate of writing
increases quite regularly from 4B to 7 A. The 7B
and 8A show but slight increase and the 8B is the
same as that of the 8A grade. In all grades but
the highest three the grade median is slightly above
the grade standard. In the 7B it is three letters
below, in the 8A, six letters, and in the 8B, eleven
letters below the norm.

The detailed distributions show almost as great
a variability of achievement within the same grade
as was noted in Form, and the overlapping of grades
is as characteristic.

4, Summary of conclusions:

(1) When the results from all schools are com-
bined it appears that the quality of the pupils 7 hand-
writing in all grades, with the exception of the 4B
and 5A, is below standard.

(2) From grades 4B and 5A, which are standard
in form, there is a slight improvement through the
grades to 8B. The total increase in form from 4B
to SB is less than two steps on the scale.

OF HANDWRITING 151

(3) When the results for all the schools are com-
bined it appears that the rate of pupils' writing in
all grades is above standard except in grades 7B,
8 A, and SB. The rate in 8B is considerably below
the grade standard.

(4) When the results by schools are considered it
is seen that there are wide differences in the attain-
ments of pupils in the same grades in different
schools. All levels of ability are represented in
each grade. In one school the 4B pupils write with
8B ability and in another school the 8B grade fails
to equal the 4B standard.

(5) Out of 413 classes in grades 4B to 8B,

56 classes show standard attainment in form.

59 classes are 1 grade below standard.

56 classes are 2 grades below standard.

35 classes are 3 grades below standard.

32 classes are 4 grades below standard.

24 classes are 5 grades below standard.

17 classes are 6 grades below standard.

16 classes are 7 grades and more below standard,

46 classes are 1 grade above standard.
26 classes are 2 grades above standard.
24 classes are 3 grades above standard.
11 classes are 4 grades above standard.

6 classes are 5 grades above standard.

5 classes are 6 or more grades above standard.

152 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

(6) In rate

83 classes show standard rates.
73 classes are 1 grade below standard.
53 classes are 2 grades below standard.
26 classes are 3 grades below standard.
18 classes are 4 grades below standard.
7 classes are 5 grades below standard.
18 classes are 6 or more grades below standard.

50 classes are 1 grade above standard.
32 classes are 2 grades above standard.
24 classes are 3 grades above standard.
14 classes are 4 grades above standard.

9 classes are 5 grades above standard.

4 classes are 6 or more grades above standard.

(7) The progress in most of the schools from
grade to grade is more or less irregular, in some
quite erratic, showing a varying emphasis and atten-
tion upon speed and form.

(8) The variability in the results of the same
grades in different schools and of classes in the same
grade within the same school indicates a lack of
control over the product of instruction, such as
comes from the use of grade standards.

(9) It appears from information given by the
teachers who acted as scorers that, while most of
the teachers knew of the existence of the New York
Penmanship Scale, and while many had in their
classroom copies of the scale, only a small propor-
tion indicated that they used the scale regularly for

OF HANDWRITING 153

measurement purposes. Although some of the
teachers had received for practice purposes the
standardized material prepared and distributed by
our bureau, many teachers had not received such
material and had not been aware of its availability.

(10) An effort should be made in each school to
control the product of the penmanship instruction
by substituting the grade standards as set up in the
syllabus for the varying standards of the individual
teacher. Such grade standards should be regarded
as goals for each grade and an effort should be made
to bring up to standard those pupils who are now
below.

5. Object of the tests. The writer had been for
twenty years trying to improve the handwriting of
children without satisfactory results. The methods
he had employed were the annual examination,
evaluation, and criticism of the penmanship in each
classroom of his district (about one thousand) by
ordinary observation and judgment. This method
is necessarily faulty, as it is impossible for a super-
visor to carry in his head appropriate standards for
sixteen school grades. He cannot, with any confi-
dence, assert by such a procedure that the writing
in a certain grade or school is or is not satisfactory.
All he can say positively is that the writing seems
poor or good or seems to be better or worse than
that of other schools or classes. If a principal or

154 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

teacher disputes the assertion, there is no way to
silence the objector except by the arbitrary au-
thority of the supervisor, and that is not a satis-
factory substitute for facts.

When the Board of Superintendents adopted uni-
form letter forms and gave us the New York Pen-
manship Scale with grade standards, we had at our
command the instrument for finding out what is the
matter with our penmanship. The first step in our
attempt to improve the writing of children is mani-
festly a survey. When you send for a physician the
first thing he does is to make a diagnosis of your
case. He employs instruments of exact measure-
ment. He measures, to a tenth of a degree, your
temperature. He counts your pulse beats. The
stethoscope carries to his ear the sounds made by
the organs of the chest. He may count the red
corpuscles of your blood, or make a chemical analy-
sis of your secretions. He must know what is the
matter with you before he undertakes to cure you.
We employed the methods of the physician and
found out exactly Who is Who and What is What.

When the returns came in, we understood what
John Bunyan means in the following quotation,
which is a condensed passage from his Heavenly
Footman:

There is no man that goeth to heaven but he must go by

OF HANDWRITING 155

the cross . . Thou mayest know the cross by these six
things:

(1) The doctrine of justification: A man is forced to
suffer the destruction of his own righteousness;

(2) The doctrine of mortification: Is it nothing for
a man to lay hands on his vile opinions?

(3) The doctrine of perseverance: Which is not only
to begin but for to hold out;

(4) In self-denial: We that are strong ought to bear
the infirmities of the weak;

(5) In patience: Some men, when they come to the
cross can go no farther, but back again to their sins
they must go;

(6) Communion with poor saints: To give is a sel-
dom work, especially to give to the poor.

We now knew that in many instances our
righteousness was as filthy rags. We had supposed
that our writing was "good enough" or as "good
as in other schools.' 7 But here were the hideous
facts! While some classes were from one to eight
grades above the standard a still greater number
were from one to nine grades below standard. This
was indeed a laying of hands on our vile opinions.
But announcement was made that a year hence a
second survey would be made, and all who were
below standard were exhorted to begin the work of
improvement forthwith and to persevere until they
should win the prize. Supervisors were asked to
practice self-denial and patience, to give up their

156 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

ease in Zion, and to minister continually to the poor
saints!

6. Remedial measures. The writer sent the re-
sults of the survey to the several schools and
announced the program for the improvement of
handwriting. Following is an outline of this pro-
gram:

(1) Objective standard. The value of an ob-
jective standard is eloquently set forth by these
results. It is evident that I have been much too
generous in estimating the merit of writing in a
number of schools. I have called it satisfactory
where it is very far from satisfactory. There is one
school in which only two grades rise above the level
of the 4B standard. The tendency of a supervisor,
in estimating writing, drawing, and composition, is
to take the general level of the school as the standard
and then rate individual performances by that scale.

Now that we have an objective measure, we must
face the facts and proceed to work up to the stand-
ard where we fall short of it. The only way to do
that is to substitute the grade standards set up in
the Syllabus for the varying students of individual
teachers and supervisors.

Fortunately this is now possible- There are in
each school one or more trained scorers who assisted
Mr. Nifenecker. I suggest that conferences be
arranged and that these expert scorers train the

OF HANDWRITING 157

rest of the teachers in scoring as they themselves
were trained. Then every teacher in the school
should score the writing of her pupils at least once
a month. And the supervisors should take the
scores at the beginning and the end of the term to
determine the progress of the class and the success of
the teaching. I advise that efforts be concentrated
upon the grades that are below standard. I intend
later in the year, if possible, to make another sur-
vey of the schools and grades that are below stand-
ard to find out whether any improvement has been
made. There are eight schools that have no grades
below standard. These will continue in their ac-
customed way. Several others have only a few
low spots to level up. But about half the schools
will have to start a very earnest campaign to im-
prove their writing.
(2) A definite and attainable goal:

(a) One of the first considerations in any project
is the setting up of a definite and attainable goal.
In the present situation of penmanship we have such
a goal. Now let us gird up our loins and "go to it" !

(b) So far as I can see, teachers in all the schools
have about the same average writing ability and
teaching ability. We are thus driven to the con-
clusion that the vast differences in results of pen-
manship and other studies are due chiefly to differ-
ences in supervision.

158 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

(c) In many classes the drills are fairly well done
but the excellence does not carry over into the other
written work, which is scribbled. This is one
point of attack by supervisors.

(d) About one teacher in twenty will say before
a spelling test: " Writing position." As position
is a fundamental in good writing, here is another
point of attack.

(e) In numerous classes the children do not fill
up the spaces in their drill papers, thus missing the
swing which secures the proper movement habit.
Another point of attack.

(f) In the schools that have made good in pen-
manship, the supervisors carefully point out the
errors of individual children and commend success-
ful children by name. Stamping one's signature
on a package of drill papers will not get results.

(g) The sum of little things makes big tilings.
Excellence as a whole is never attained without
excellence in detail. We are not teaching masses,
but individuals, even when we are engaged in mass
teaching. Just as concert work fails to secure effi-
ciency of individuals in reciting poetry, so one can-
not successfully teach writing by sitting at a desk.
Each child is a problem that requires individual
solution.

(h) Have you tried the monitorial plan? A child
very proficient in penmanship shows a poor writer

OF HANDWRITING 159

how to do it. Have you had a conference on pen-
manship devices? Come, brethren, let us reason
together. Some have done this thing. Let the
rest of us determine that we can do it too. I am
convinced that all can reach the standard because
many of the schools that are not quite successful in
writing do beautiful work in other subjects.

(3) Devices. Several months later every school
was asked to report methods and devices employed
for the improvement of handwriting. These were
summarized and circulated in the district. Here is
a partial list of them. The figures at the end of a
paragraph indicate the number of schools reporting
that device.

1. Insist on correct posture and movement in all writing (5).

2. Use the blackboard to teach the letter forms (2).

3. The children "write frequently on the board to develop
swing (1).

4. The pupil carries something (a penny) on the back of his
hand to prevent excessive pronation (3).

5. The teacher corrects each writing drill daily in red ink (2).

6. Never give writing for punishment (1).

7* The use of a handwriting scale for comparison and measure-
ment (17).

8. Personal commendation of teachers and pupils who do
well (4).

9. Game and story of five pigs for sliding on nails (1),

10. Counting for rhythm (6).

11. Repeating jingle for drills (4).

12. Mr. Bartow, of the Palmer Company, helps (3).

160 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

13. Place a cylindrical pencil under the forearm. When the
movement is correct, pencil keeps rolling (1).

14. Sliding the paper to the left for slant and position (2).

15. Sliding paper upward as in typewriter for the position (1).

16. Don't get ink into the pen's eye (not too much ink) (1).

17. Writing in the air (1).

18. Tracing for poor writers (1).

19. The teacher guides the hand of poor writer (1).

20. Name card kept on desk at all times (2).

21. Descriptive words used as cues (1).

22. Papers starred for excellence (1).

23. Class errors corrected on board (2).

24. Stress one thing each week (1).

25. The teacher places red check on paper for correct posture
and movement (2).

26. Draw lines through one line of writing to test uniformity
of slant (1).

27. Group writers according to proficiency (1).

28. Allow poor writers to pass around the room to select the
best papers (1),

29. Have a poor writer sit next to a good one (1).

30. Honor Roll (4).

31. Pupils compare first and last papers of each month (2).

32. "Before and after" exhibit, placing each child's first paper
alongside of his latest (2).

33. Extra credits for penmanship given on spelling, compo-
sition, and other written work (1).

34. Encourage self-criticism with scale (3).

35. The pupils keep their own scores and mark improve-
ment (1).

36. "Skating game" for light touch. The paper is an ice
pond, the pen is the skater (1).

OF HANDWRITING 161

37. A ball of paper in the hand loosens the tight grip (1).

38. Place a weight on the paper and allow the left hand to
hang at your side to relieve rigidity (1).

39. Correct one error at a time (1).

40. Try inter-class contests (2).

41. Have a procession to the office to show good work. Reward
the one receiving the largest number of approval stamps. Banner
to a class each Monday morning for having the largest number
of approval signatures. Term prize for same to a pupil (2).

42. Pen Clubs to work for Palmer Buttons (3).

43. Articles on handwriting in magazines, etc., to keep up the
interest of teachers (1).

44. At least one lesson a month is observed and criticized by
the Assistant to the Principal in each room (1).

45. The teacher of penmanship isalso teacherof composition (1).

46. One-minute test every two weeks, sent to the Assistant
to Principal for appraisal (1).

47. Preliminary writing drill in all written work (1).

48. Weekly conference directed by expert scorers (2).

49. Correspondence course taken by several teachers (1).
60. Speed test in spelling (2),

51. Display the new work for the week on a chart (1).

52. All classes on a floor to be taught at the same period so
that the principal may pass easily from room to room.

53. An "A" penmanship section (1).

54. Insignia on penholder to indicate correct movement (1).

55. Insist on clean ink (1),

56. Insist on good pens (1).

57. Insist on good quality of paper (1).

58. Have term tests (1).

59. Frequent inspection and appraisal of all penmanship
products (10).

162

OF HANDWRITING

7, The second survey. This, like the first, was
conducted by Mr. Eugene A. Nifenecker, Director
of our Reference Bureau. The eight schools that
had reached a standard score in all grades in the
first survey were excused from the second. As the
whole procedure was on a voluntary and cooperative
basis, four schools that had two or more grades
below standard were, at their request, also excused
from the second test. There were therefore only
thirteen schools that submitted to the second
measurement. Table II shows the number of
classes and children concerned, by grades,

TABMD II
Number of Pupils and Classes by Grades Involved in Penmanship Survey

f Grades

4B

5A

SB

6A

6B

7A

7B

8A

SB

Total

No. of Classes

29

29

30

32

29

26

26

21

18

240

No. of Pupils

1,037

1,013

1,082

1,056

1,012

S96

877

697

6SO

8,350

In Table III are presented the comparative re-
sult^ of grade and school in the two surveys, show-
ing grade levels attained in Form,. Table IV shows
similar facts for speed.

A more valid comparison may be made by taking
into consideration the fact that -most of the pupils
who took the 1922 survey were in 1923 two grades
higher than in 1922,

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OF HANDWRITING 165

By comparing the pupils in one grade in 1922
with the group two grades higher in 1923, we are
comparing the achievements of practically the same
pupils. It is to be kept in mind, however, that while
the groups are approximately the same, they are not
wholly so. Numerous changes in pupil population
tend to disturb the composition of the groups.
Again, it is to be noted that no comparison is pos-
sible in the case of the present 4B and 5A pupils,
inasmuch as they were a year ago in 3B and 4A
classes, which were not included in the 1922 survey.

Table V indicates for each school and pupil group
the amount of gain or loss shown by the 1923
achievements as compared with those of 1922, The
table also gives the total net change of each school
and the average per grade group involved. For
instance, in P. S. 1, the first school mentioned, the
group which was in 4B in 1922 and in 5B in 1923
shows a median Improvement of 5.7 points; the
5A-6A group shows practically no gain; the 5B-6B
group gained 6.8 points; the 6A-7A advanced 14
points; and so on. The total gain for the school
for the groups compared Was 58.3 points, or an
average of 8*3 points almost a full scale step.

At the bottom of the table are shown the number

of schools that have made gains, or losses, or no

hange. The net gain for each grade group is also

hown, as well as the average per school. For in-

166 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

TABLE V

PENMANSHIP SURVEY DISTRICTS 1-7 JUNB, 1923

Gain or Loss in Attainments between 1922 and 1923 for

Corresponding Pupil Groups

1922

4B

5A

5B

6A

6B

7A

7B

Aver-

Net

age

Total

Plr

1923

5B

6A

6B

7A

7B

8A

SB

School

School

1
2

+ 5.7
+15.0

+ 0.8
+ 7.3

+ 6.8
+16.1

+14.1
- 1.1

+10.8

+12.6
+ 6.1

+ 7.5
+ 4.5

+58.3
+46.2

+ 8.3
+ 6.6

3

- 5.7

+ 1-6

+ 2.0

- 4.7

+ 0.6

+ 3.7

+ 2.5

+ 0.4

4

+12.1

+ 8.6

+ 6.8

- 3.3

- 9.2

- 0.6

- 4.6

+ 9.8

+ 1.4

5

+12.7

+ 2.1

+ 5.8

+11.0

+ 7.8

+ 8.0

+16.3

+63.7

+ 9.1

6

+11.6

+ 4.8

+ 5.4

+21.8

+ 7.3

7

+ 1.5

-11.2

- 1.7

,

-11.4

- 3.8

8

+ 1-7

+ 2.0

- 3.6

- 0.7

- 0.6

- 0.12

9

+ 17.3

+24.8

+20.5

+ 11.8

+ 5.7

+ 17.8

+97.9

+16.3

10

+ 2.8

+17.8

+ 19.4

+ 8.5

+ 1.3

+ 8.4

+ 9.3

+67.5

+ 9.6

11

+ 2.0

- 9.2

+ 5.4

- 1.8

- 0.6

12

+ 3.5

- 9.5

+ 3.2

+ 9.7

+ 9.7

+ 3.2

+ 8.7

+28.5

+ 4.1

13

- 0.2

- 4.3

- 4.6

- 2.3

No. show-

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ing gam

10

8

10

6

4

7

7

52

Loss

2

4

1

3

5

1

1

17

No change

1

1

_

2

Total

12

13

12

9

9

8

8

71

Total net

gain or loss

+es.e

+60.3

+95.7

+65.8

+41.4

+44.6

+65.8

+44.2

Av, Gain

or Loss

+ 3.7

+ 4.6

+ 8.0

+ 7.3

+ 4.6

+ 5.6

+ 8.2

+ 6.3

Standard

Gain

8

7

6

5

4

4

4

5.4

stance, in the 4B-5B group, ten out of twelve schools
made a gain and two Sustained a, loss. The total
gain was 68.6 points or an average per school of 5.7
points. Out of all the grade groups involved in
the comparisons (71 in number) 52, or 73%, show
a gain, while 17, or 24%, show a loss.

The standard increase is shown on the bottom

9
8
7
6

5
4

3

15.7

1922 4B SA 5B dA 6B TA 7B

5B 0A 0B TA 7B 6A 8B Total

6ain compared

with

FIGURE 3

(167)

A,*^*-^

168 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

line. For instance, the difference between the 4B
grade median and the 5B grade median is 8 points.
In four of the twelve schools Public Schools 2, 4,
5, 6 the growth in the year was greater than the
normal intergrade interval of 8 points. In the
5A-6A group the intergrade interval is 7 points,
which was exceeded by four schools. In the 7B-8B
group the increment is 4 points, which was exceeded
by six out of the eight schools. Greater improve-
ment is shown by the higher grades than the lower.
The improvement as a whole was considerable and
in most of the groups was quite satisfactory.

These gains are graphically shown in Figure 3.

8. Summary of inferences based on the preceding
study of the supervision of handwriting.

(1) Supervision of instruction is concededly neces-
sary in elementary grades and to some extent in the
secondary school. It is also essential in other arts,
such as those relating to the theater and the opera.
In industry the foreman and superintendent are
accepted as indispensable factors of successful and
economical operation and production.

(2) The production of good writing is no excep-
tion. The expert supervisor is necessary to co8r-
dinate the efforts of individual teachers and chil-
dren; to economize effort by eliminating wrong
movements and forms; and to make the results of

OF HANDWRITING 169

practice cumulative by grading exercises within
grades, and articulating grade with grade.

(3) This study shows that in fif ty American cities
of fifty thousand population or over, educational
authorities have found it desirable to employ one or
more technical supervisors of penmanship.

(4) My own experiment has convinced me that
writing in New York schools will never be wholly
satisfactory until we employ at least one special
teacher of handwriting in each supervisory unit in
charge of a district superintendent. If I had such
a teacher at my command, I would undertake to
bring up to standard every school in my district
within a few years.

(5) Inspirational supervision alone is incapable
of overcoming all the resistance in penmanship
teaching, any more than hopes, and good wishes,
and sound advice can put the first tomatoes on the
market. Expert knowledge and skill are needed
in certain situations*

(6) In the absence of a technical supervisor our
only resource is the principal But some principals
cannot and others will nqt do what is required for
success in handwriting. In such cases the special
teacher must go to the individual classroom and
show the teacher how to teach. Nobody questions
this statement with reference to drawing or music

170 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

or physical training. Penmanship requires as much
supervisory skill as any of the other subjects named,

(7) The St. Louis Survey studied the effect of
the principal's attitude toward penmanship and
concluded that it was negligible. But that city
has a director of handwriting with a staff of assist-
ants. In a city where there are no technical super-
visors everything depends upon the principal's
attitude and skill.

(8) A graded course of study in penmanship, or
its equivalent, is essential to success. Some cities
send out periodically, in lieu of a syllabus, detailed
instructions for the conduct of lessons in hand-
writing,

(9) Late and authoritative researches indicate
that abstract drill exercises preliminary to writing
are wrong in principle and wasteful in practice.
"It is as though a person in training to be a car-
penter should spend his time in calisthenics ... A
greater part of the practice in handwriting should
be spent in actual writing/'

(10) Every teacher of writing should be required
to qualify as an expert in the kind of writing she is
expected to teach. In some states such a qualifi-
cation is a condition of employment.

(11) In a number, of states handwriting is con-
sidered of sufficient importance to require state*
wide regulation and suggestion. Penmanship man-

OF HANDWRITING 171

uals have been issued by New Jersey, Massachu-
setts, Ohio, and doubtless by other states.

(12) The measurement of handwriting has come
to be widely recognized as essential to success. In
my own district, however, the school that has the
best writing never used a scale. When this school
was measured by Mr. Nifenecker, nearly every
grade had attained an 8B standard.

(13) Many people assert that writing should end
as a formal drill with the sixth year. If all chil-
dren were efficiently taught, this might be safe.
But under present conditions in New York, I do
not advise it. Many of our sixth-grade children
write an illegible scrawL To turn them out with
this inadequate training would be unfair to them
and to the public condemned to read their future
writing.

(14) By combining all grades and schools, the
median achievement of my district in handwriting
was, in 1922, below standard inform in every grade
but two, and was above standard in rate in every
grade but three.

(15) In the second survey, in 1923, form had im-
proved, but rate had declined* The medians of the
two surveys, however, axe not strictly comparably
as the schools which had attained standard form in
1922 were not included in the 1923 test. The ex-
planation of the changed relations of form and

172 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING,

speed is probably that the teachers, knowing that
another survey was coming, unconsciously stressed
form at the expense of speed.

(16) In the second survey sixty-three per cent of
the classes made a better score in form than they
had in the first survey; seven per cent showed no
change; thirty per cent were lower.

(17) A more valid method of measuring progress
is to compare grade groups one year apart. For
instance, if we compare the attainment of a 4B
grade in a given school in 1923 with the same grade
in 1922, we are not dealing with the same children,
because the pupils who were in 4B in 1922 were in
5B a year later. A table was therefore constructed
which compares grade groups one year apart. In
this way we are dealing approximately with the
same children in the two surveys. In six grade
groups thus compared the average gain in twelve
schools was greater than the standard intergrade
gain.

(18) The Detroit experiment in supervision con-
firms my own conclusion that "supervision pays/'
and that "that supervision is most effective which
gives special attention to those who need it most."
As soon as a class or school reaches standard
achievement it should be relieved of external super-
vision (except an occasional survey to show whether
it has fallen from grace!). The same principle

OF HANDWBITING 173

should be applied to individual pupils within a
class.

(19) I have proved to my own satisfaction and
cannot make it too emphatic that teachers un-
trained in the technique of measurement, are in-
capable of doing research work that has scientific
validity. The sixty-nine scorers of our second sur-
vey are teachers of more than average intelligence
for some of them occupy supervisory positions yet
it required twenty hours of intensive training in
the simple process of using a penmanship scale to
make them sufficiently accurate for our purpose.

(20) When our Department of Education sup-
plied the teachers with a handwriting scale, it took
an important first step toward improvement in
penmanship; but unless and until it provides train-
ing for teachers in the use of the scale, no useful
purpose wiU be served by that instrument.

CHAPTER IX

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Q&ye, with reasons, your opinion on each of
the fouling points concerning the teaching of
penmanship to beginners:

(a) Should the writing be large or small? Define
large and small.

(b) Should the beginning be made with sentences,
words, letters of the alphabet, or the elements of
letters?

(c) How is the principle of imitiation to be utilized
in teaching penmanship?

(d) Should a beginning be made with the pen,
lead pencil, slate pencil, the blackboard crayon, or
the sand table?

(e) Should children in the beginning be drilled in
the arm movement and compelled to use the sarqe
in writing, or should they be allowed to use the
finger movement until the forms of letters are
thoroughly familiar?

See Louise Ellison's "The Acquisition of Tech-
nical Skill," in Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 16, p.
49 (March, 1909)-

f * A few of these topics are taken from Freeman's The Psychology of ffw
Common Branches, Chap. II. (Houghton Mifflin), and some from Mon-
roe, De Voss and Kelly's Educational Tests and Measurement*, (Hough-
ion Mifflin).

174

OF HANDWRITING 175

2. What is meant by " organizing a movement"
in a subject like penmanship?

See Judd's Genetic Psychology for Teachers, pp.
223-225.

Penmanship in a certain school was assigned 15 minutes daily
throughout the grades. The exercises were performed in a half-
hearted, ineffective manner. .... The pupils were then told
that as soon as any one could write a plain, legible hand with
(air rapidity, he would be excused from further penmanship
exercises. ... A similar plan was adopted in spelling, . . .
Whenever the individual instead of the class was made the basis
for promotion, the results were excellent.

What is the principle here involved, and how far
is it applicable?

3. ' i Children used to write with their sides toward
the desk, the right arm wholly and the left partly
supported by it."

Criticize this position, and describe the correct
position, giving reasons.

4- Give three illustrations of motor habits which
are formed in school.

5* Compare the complexity oi the writing move-
ment with the walking movement. Why does the
child take longer to learn to write than to walk?

6- What is the relation of the slant of writing to
legibility? To speed? What is the natural slant?

7. What hygienic reasons were given in support
of vertical writing? How have these demands been
met in a different way?

176 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

8. Does "selection" of appropriate movements
mean conscious, deliberate selection? If not, what
is the method?

9. Discuss the saying, "Practice makes perfect."

10. Discuss the statement, "If the child is trained
in the correct movement, the form of the letters will
take care of itself."

11. Explain several methods of stimulating the
child to study the form of writing.

12. Compare the old methods of grading (or
measuring) the child's work with the standardized
scale method.

13. Why should the correct habit be practiced
in all writing? Put this rule in the form of a gen-
eral principle and illustrate from two other subjects
of study,

14. Compare the movements made by a child of
three years and a child of ten and inquire whether
the fundamental-accessory theory explains the
difference.

15. Considering the motor development of the
child and the need of making writing automatic,
when do you think the formal writing drill should
be emphasized most?

16. Discuss the aim of bringing all the children
of a grade up to grade standard and then excusing
from formal drills all who are above this standard.

17. A teacher may judge the handwriting of her

OF HANDWRITING 177

class by watching the pupils while they write or by
examining the specimens which they have written.

(a) Which is the better method if the object is to
compare class with class?

'(b) Which is better for discovering the hand-
writing defects of individuals?

(c) What factors would you keep in mind in
watching while they write?

(d) What factors in the other method?

18. In what situations would you use the Ayree
Scale? The Thorndike? The Johnson-Stone? The
Freeman? The New York? Gray's Score Card?

19. What factor of handwriting is of most im-
portance according to Gray's Score Card? What
factor is of least importance? Why are these fac-
tors so rated? Do you approve these ratings?
Why?

20. For what purpose would you use dictation
exercises?

21* Discuss: (a) Pronation; (b) Hand support;
(c) Angle of arm with base line; (d) Relation of
finger and thumb; (e) Grasp of penholder.

22. In what grades (if any) and for what purpose
and for what length of time would you recommend
whole^arm movement?

23. Define rhythm in handwriting and show its
purpose; also its relation to age, quality, and speed.

24. State three laws of habit formation and illus-

178 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

trate their application to the teaching of pen-
manship.

25. Briefly discuss graphology and show its rela-
tion to the experimental study of handwriting.

26. Write ten propositions or general principles
derived from the physiology and psychology of
handwriting.

27. Explain a method of teaching an illiterate
adult how to write his name in three lessons.

28. Discuss the advantages of the departmental
system of teaching handwriting.

29. Why do we teach handwriting? Name and
discuss three or four "objectives" of penmanship.

30. Discuss the supervision of handwriting under
the following heads:

(a) The specialist or penmanship supervisor.
Explain what he should do, and under whose au-
thority he should work.

(b) The principal.

(c) The superintendent.

31. Describe three writing scales and tell under
what circumstances each is most useful.

32. Discuss in some detail the motivation of pen-
manship, naming the best incentive and six useful
devices.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Education, Russell Sage Foundation.

3. ATOES, LEONARD P., "Scale for Measuring the Quality of

Handwriting of School Children," Bulletin No. 113, Divi-
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4. BARNES, EARL, Stitdies in Education, Vol. 2, p. 389.

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and Critique of the Ayres Handwriting Scale," School and
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6. BREED, FREDERICK S., and DOWNS, E. F., "Measuring and

Standardizing the Handwriting in a School System,"
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7* BRYAH, ELMER B,, The Bam of Practical Teaching, Silver,
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8, BOTK, FREDERIC, "From Fundamental to Accessory in the
Development of the Nervous System and Movement,"
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9._Califbrnia, Southern, First Convention of the Southern Cali-
fornia Association of Supervisors and Teachers of Penman-
ship, Willis-Woodbury College, Los Angeles, CaL, 1922,

10. CHAPTERS, W. W., The Teaching of the Common Branches,

Houghton Mifflin Co., 1913.

11. GORNMAN, OZJVER R, Sp&tting in the Mkmentary School,

Ginn <fc Co., 1902.

12. DOWNEY, JXJOT E*, "Judgments on Handwriting Similarity

181

182 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

and Differences," Journal of Philosophical, Psychological,
and Scientific Methods, Vol. 7, pp. 544h553.

13. DOWNEY, JTJNE E., "Judgment on the Sex of Handwriting,"

Same as 12, Vol. 17, pp. 205-216.

14. DOWNEY, JUNE E., "Graphology and the Psychology of

Handwriting," Educational Psychology Monographs, No,
24, Warwick and York, 1919.

15. EUOSWOETH, Illustrated Lectures and Lessons on Penman*

ship, The Ellsworth Company, N. Y., 1897.

16. Federal Board of Vocational Education, "Legible Hand-

writing for Men of Inferior Elementary School Training,"
Government Printing Office, 1919.

17. FREEMAN, FRANK N., The Psychology of the Common Branches

(Chap. II), Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916.

18. FREEMAN, FRANK N., "Some Issues in the Teaching of Hand-

writing," Elementary School Teacher, 12:1-7 (1911-12).

19. FREEMAN, FRANK N., "An Analytical Scale for Judging

Handwriting," Elementary School Journal, 15:432 (1915).

20. FREEMAN, FRANK N., The Teaching of Handwriting, Hough-

ton Mifflin Co., 1914.

21. FREEMAN, FRANK N., "The Handwriting Movement," Sup-

plementary Educational Monographs, VoL 2, No. 3, Aug.,
1918, University of Chicago Press.

22. FREEMAN, FRANK N., "Handwriting Test for Use in School

Surveys," Elementary School Journal, Vol. 15, 1916.

23. FREEMAN, FRANK N., "The Scientific Evidence on the Hand-

writing Movement," The Psychological Review, VoL 12:
253-275.

24. FREEMAN, FRANK N., Survey of the St. Louis Public Schook,

Vol. 5. The World Book Co., 1918.
. FREEMAN and DOTTGHERTT, How to Teach Hanchmting f
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1923.

OF HANDWRITING 183

26. GBSELL, ARNOLD L., "Accuracy in Handwriting as Related

to School Intelligence," American Journal of Psychology,
Vol. 17, 1906.

27. GRAY, G. T., "A Score Card for Measuring Handwriting/'

Bulletin, University of Texas, No. 37, July, 1915.

28. GRAY, C. T., "The Training of Judgment in the Use of the

Ayres Scale for Handwriting," Journal of Educational
Psychology, 6:86-98 (1915),

29. HARBISON, WILUAH BEVERLY, The Physiology of Writing,

New York, 1894.

30. HEALEY, HORACE G,, "Penmanship in Business High

Schools," N. E. A. Proceedings, 1916, p. 565.
81. HOUSTON-, HARRY, Teaching of Penmanship, New Haven,
1913.

32, JAVAL, "The Mechanism of Writing," Revue Svientifique,

VoL 27, p. 647.

33. JOHNSON, W. SwrrraB, "Researches in Practice and Habit,"

Studies from Yde Psychological Laboratory, Vol. 6, 1898*
34* JOHNSON and STONE, "Measuring the Quality of Hand-
writing," Momentary School Journal, Feb., 1916.

35. JtHWD, CHARLES H., Qendic Psychology for Teachers, D.

Appleton A Co., 1903.

36. KINDALL, C. N*, and HOUSTON, HARRY, The Teaching of

Penmanship, Department of Instruction, State of New
Jersey, 1912.

87* &Lonr TROT&N LIB, "Measuring the Quality of Hand-
writing," Momentary School Journal, 16:302-315 (1915).

38. KINO and JOHNSON, "The Writing Abilities of the Ele-
mentary and Grammar School Pupils of a City School
System Measured by the Ayres Scale/' Journal of Edu-
cational Psychology, 3:514-520,

89* Lams, & E,, "The Present Standard of Handwriting in

184 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

Iowa Normal and Training Schools/' Educational Admin*
istration and Supervision, Vol. 1, p. 663 (1915).

40. LISTER, CLYDE C., and MYERS, GARRY C., New York Pen-

manship Scale, Board of Education.

41. LISTER, CLYDE C., Progressive Penmanship, The Macmillan

Co., 1923. A Manual, Progress Budget, Scale, and
Certificate.

42. MCALLISTER, CLOYD N., "Researches on Movement in

Writing/' Studies from Yale Psychological Laboratory,
Vol. 8, pp. 21-63, 1900.

43. MAOTEL, H. T., "The Use of an Objective Scale for Grading

Handwriting," Elementary School Journal, 15:269 (1915).

44. Massachusetts Board of Education, A Course of Study in

Handwriting for Elementary Schools, Boston, 1920, Bul-
letin No. 8.

45. MONROE, WALTER S., DB Voss, J. G., and KELLY, F. J.,

Educational Tests and Measurements. Houghton Mifflm
Co., 1917, 8:21-63.

46. New York Penmanship Scale, Board of Education.

47. New Jersey, The Teaching of Penmanship. Public Instruc-

tion Department, Trenton, N. J., 1912.

48. NIMNECKER, ETJGENE A., Educational Measurements for th*

Class Teacher, No. 1, Feb., 1921, Boaid of Education,
New York.

49. NUTT, H. W., "Rhythm in Handwriting/' Elementary School

Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 432-445.

50. OSBORN, A. S., Form Blindness as Psychology of SigU in

Relation to Legal Procedure (1913).

51* OSBORN, A. S., Questioned Documents, A study of que&-
tioned documents with an outline of methods by which
the facts may be discovered and shown (1910).

OF HANDWRITING 185

52. PALMER, A. N., First Convention of the Southern California

Association of Supervisors and Teachers of Penmanship,
March 25, 1922, held at Willis-Woodbmy College, Los
Angeles.

53. FINTNBR, RXTDOLF, "A Comparison of the Ayres and Thorn-

dike Handwriting Scales," Journal of Educational Psy-
chology, 5:525 (1914).

54. ftetw Scimtifiqiw, Vol. 27. "The Mechanism of Writing,"

55. RBXFOKD, JOHN, What Handwriting Indicates; An Analytical

Graphology) Putnam's, 1904.

56. SAWYIEH, Tom, Manual of Fundam&ntds in the Teaching of

Handwriting, P. J. Hoer Printing Co., Columbus, O., 1918.
87* SCEIFTOBB, E. W., "Penmanship Stuttering," Journal of

American Medical Association, Vol. 52, pp. 1480-1481,

May, 1909,
58* SHAW, LENA A,, "An Experiment in the Supervision of

Handwriting," Detroit Journal of Education, 2:57~$9.
59. SHOEOT, J. B., "Obstacles to Good Handwriting," Elemm-

tary School Journal, 24:301.
00. STARCH, DANIBL, "Measurement of Handwriting," Journal

of Educational Psychology , 4;445 (1913).

61. STABCH, DANIEL, "The Measurement of Efficiency in Writ-

ing/' Journal of Mwcdiond Pvychokgy, 6:106 (1915).

62, STABCH, DANIEL, "Unconscious Imitation in Handwriting/'

Psychological Revi&w, 18:223-228 (1911).
63* STONB, C. E., a Motivation of the Formal Writing Leseon

Through a Special Classification of Pupils for Writing/ 1

School and Home Education. June, 1915.
$4. TAYIX>B, JOSEPH S*, "Omitting Arithmetic in First Year/'

BducaMond Administration and Supervision, Feb., 1916.
5* TAYI*OB, JOSEJPH S., and MASSELL, ALBXA.NDBR S., Short
CQWTSG on ToacMng to Write One's Nome in Three

186 SUPERVISION AND TEACHING

Lessons, Kipps Bay Neighborhood Association, Nev
York, 1920.

66. THOMPSON, MARY E., Psychology and Pedagogy of Writing

Warwick & York, 1917.

67. THORNDIKE, EDWAKD L., "Handwriting," Teachers CoUegt

Record, Vol. 2 (1910).

68. THORNDIKE, EDWARD L., "Means of Measuring School

Achievement in Handwriting," Educational Administra-
tion and Supervision, 1:300 (1915).

69. THORNDIKB, EDWARD L., "Teachers' Estimates of the

Quality of Handwriting," Teachers College Record, 15:
No. 5, 1914.

70. WALKER, H. C., "The Development of the Unit Plan of

Penmanship Practice," Journal of Educational Research,
February, 1920.

71. WEST, PAUL V., "The Relation of Rhythm to the Hand-

writing Movement," Journal of Educational Psychology,
13:438-444.

72. WHIPPLE, Gtnr M., How to Study Effectively, Public School

Publishing Co., 1916.

73. WILSON, G. M., "The Handwriting of School Children,"

Elementary School Teacher, 11:540 (1911).

74. WKCHAM, E. C., "AH the Elements of Handwriting Meas-

ured," Educational Administration and Supervision, Vol. 1,
p. 313 (May, 1915).

75. WOODWORTH, R. S., "Accuracy of Voluntary Movement,"

Psychological Review Monograph Supplement, Vol. 3,
No. 2, July, 1899.

INDEX

AYEBS SCALB, 132, 136, 138, 140.
ABILITIES, writing, analysis of,

20*
ACCURACY, 49, 58.

ADULT WRITERS, 36,

AGE DKTTERMINED FROM WRITING,

64.

ANALOGY, method of, 54.

ABM MOVEMENT, 26, 32, 36, 40,

60, 76; angle with base line,

28,

AsHBOUGH, ERNHST J, 181,
Avmxnm OF COMPLACENCY, 113,
AUTOMATIC WRITING, 43, 49, 67.
AYBBS, DR. LBJONABI> P., 132,

135, 138, 140, 181*

BACKHAND WETTING, 40*
BABNBS, EARL, 94, 181.
BASB LINE, 28, 63, 68.
BOYS, teaching more difficult,

80,
BREED AND DOWNS SCALE, 136,

138, 181.
BROW, HBYWOOD, excerpt by,

99.

BBTAN, (ItMm B.), 49, 181.
BTOTYAN, JOBCN, quotation from

The Heavenly Footman* 154.

BtJKEAtr OF REFERENCE, R-

SEARCH AND STATISTICS, 111,

145, 156, 162, 171.
BtnaK, FBBDEBIC, 72, 181.

CALIFORNIA CONTBNTION, ad-
dress at, 29.

CHARTERS, (W. W,), 51, 181.

CHILDREN'S WRITING, 24, 63, 72,
74, 75.

CLEWS, HENRY, excerpt by, 90.

COMPRESSED WRITING, 57,

CONCLUSIONS BASED ON PEN-
MANSHIP SURVEYS, 168-173.

CONTROVERSIAL POINTS, 71.

COORDINATED MOVBMKNTS, 42,
60.

COPY BOOKS, 33, 47, 64, 127.

COPY WRITING, 33, 46, 47, 64, 71,
84.

CORNMAN, OLIVER P., 59, 104,
181.

CORRECT WRITING MATERIALS, 67,

CURRICULUM, value of, 88.

CURVATURB AND MYOPIA, CaUBCB

of, 37.

DEFINITE COSBDENATIONS, 42.
DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING, 86.
DETKOIT, experiments by, 108,
172.

187

188 INDEX

DEVELOPMENT or HANDWRITING, FORM, 31, 33, 42, 47, 63, 76, 148,

60. 150, 163.

DIFFUSION OF EFFORT, 49, 61. FREEMAN, FRANK N., 26, 28, 30,

DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT, 99. 31, 34, 36, 61, 62, 69, 72, 77,

DONER, C. E., 126. 127, 130, 136, 140, 142, 182.

DOWNEY, Miss JUNK E., 56, 65, FREEMAN SCALE, 136, 137, 140,

181. 142.

DRILLS, 62, 65, 75, 76, 77, 124, FUNDAMENTAL TO ACCESSORY, 72.

126.

G

EDUCATIONAL VALUE OP HAND- GBSELL, ARNOLD L., 58, 59, 66,

"WRITING, 87. *^*

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 19, 58, 66. GmLS BHrTBB SPEL &ERB* 59; nioi*

ELIMINATING USELESS MOTIONS, accur ate, 58, 66, 79.

49 GRADE STANDARDS, table of, 137,

ELLSWOETH, 19, 182. 142 143 15 > 154, 156.

EMPIRICAL OBSERVATION, 54, GRAMMAR GRADES, 20.

EXCESSIVE MOVEMENT, objec- GRAND RAPID *> comparison with

tions to, 126. *" kouis, 30.

EXCESSIVE RULING, objections GRAPHIC CONTROL, range of, 55.

to, 69. GRAPHOLOGY, 53, 54, 55, 56, 65.

EXEMPTION FROM LESSON, 78. GRAY ' S ScoEB CAM> > w 137 > 139 >
EXPERTS, teachers to qualify as,

46, 64, 71, 107, 144, 170. GROTIN, JOSEPH T., 52.

GROUP TEACHING, 82.

F

H

FACTORS IN COMPLETED WRIT-
ING HABIT, 21; psychological HABIT FORMATION, 41, 49, 50, 53,
as compared with physiologi- 65, 114.
^ 41 - HAND, movement of, 21, 34, 60;

FEDERAL BOARD OF VOCATIONAL support of, 27.

EDUCATION, 182. HANDWRITING, as habit, 49;

FINQBB MOVEMENT, 21-24, 28, control of, 54; development

32, 34, 40, 60, 74, 77. o f, 60; disciplinary value of,

FOREARM MOVEMENT, 21, 23, 31, 93; a form of dramatic ex-

881 ^ pression, 53; individuality in,

INDEX

189

53, 60; manual art, 41, 64,
107, 120; measurement of,
171; methods for improve-
ment of, 159; physiology of,
19; psychology of, 41; scales
for, 59, 79, 110, 116, 121, 132,
134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 140,
141; specimen of, 44; super*
vision of, 09; utilitarian
value of, 92.

HANDWRITING EXPERT, 57,

HARRISON, WILLIAM BEVERLY,
183.

HBALBSY, HORACE G., 138, 183.

Heavenly Footman, The* 154.

HOUSTON, HARRY, 32, 62, 76,

in.

JAMES, WILLIAM, 50.

JAVAL, DR., deductions by, 20,
183.

JOHNSON AND STONE SCALE, 135,
138, 183.

JOHNSON, W. SMYTHE, 80, 183,

JITOD, DR. CHAS. H., investiga-
tions by, 21, 22, 183.

KENDALL, C. N., and HOUSTON,

HARRY, 183.
KINO AND JOHNSON, 183.

ILLTTKEATES, method for teach*

ing, 83.

IMITATION, 42, 44.
IMPROVEMENT or HANDWRITING,

outline of program for, 156-

161.

rNODBNTAL LEARNING, doctrine

of ,48.

INCORRECT HABITS, 29,
INCORRECT IDEAS, 29.

INDIVIDUAL VAKIATTON, mage ol

56.

ImmOTB, 60.
IKK, when to us^ 76.
IwatriRY, graphological, 55.
INSPIRATIONAL SUPERVISION, 112,
INVQUTNTARY MOVBMBNTO, 41,

LAW OF EFFORT, 52, 65.
LETTERS, learning to write, 43;

width of, 46.

LEFT-HANDED CHILDREN, 81.
LESSON, giving of, 123.
LETWIS, E. E., 183.
LOCKER SYSTEM, 104.

M

MANtJAia: New Jersey, 127;
Massachusetts, 129; Ohio, 129.

MANUEL, H. T., 184.

MASSACHUSETTS MANUAL, 129,
171.

MASSEIX, ALEXANDER 8., 83, 184.

McALJLtsTER, CLOTD N., sum-
mary by, 39, 63, 75, 184.

MILLS, E, C., 32, 62, 76, 125.

190

INDEX

MONITORIAL PLAN, 158.

MONROE, WAI/EER S., 141, 184.

MOTIVATION, 121, 169, 170.

MOTIVE POWER, 29.

MOTOR AREA, 23.

MOTOR CONTROL, 72, 94.

MOTOR FUNCTION, 59, 66.

MOTOR TRAINING, 41.

MOVEMENT, 21, 26, 28, 29, 30,
31, 32, 34, 36, 40, 60, 61, 76;
arm, 60, 74; coordinated, 23,
24, 59, 60, 61, 77; diffusion of,
24, 26, 49, 61; finger, 21-24,
28, 32, 34, 40, 60, 74, 77; fore-
arm, 21, 23, 31, 33, 60; full-
arm, 40; involuntary, 41;
muscular, 29, 40; organizing
a, 49; sensory control in, 48;
simplified, 49; in primary
grades, 29; whole-arm, 29, 31,
60, 62, 75; wrist, 40, 77.

MUSCLES, conscious control of,
50.

MUSCULAR IMAGE, 47.

MUSCULAR MEMORY, 33.

MUSCULAR SENSIBILITY, 48, 64.

MYOPIA AND CURVATURE, cause
of, 37.

N

NATURAL SLANT, 38.

NEW JERSEY MANUAL, 127, 171.

NEW YORK, 38, 98, 106, 107, 115,

116, 117, 124, 143, 169; form

stressed by, 30, 31.
NEW YORK PENMANSHIP SCALE,

136, 137, 140, 141, 152, 154,

184,

NlFENECKER, EUQENE A,,

by, 111, 145, 156, 163, 171.
NORMAL CLASSES, 107, 122.
NUTT, H. W., investigations by,

31, 34, 62, 143, 184.

OHIO MANUAL, 129, 171, 185.
ORGANIZING A MOVEMENT, 25.
OVAL DRILL EXERCISES, 32, 62, 77,
124.

PALMER, A. N., 29, 62, 76, 107,

116, 185.
PALMER SYSTEM, 103, 106, 107,

116.

PATHOLOGICAL WRITING, 55.
PENMANSHIP, 52, 89, 92, 93, 96,

107.
PENMANSHIP STUTTERING, 55,

66, 67.
PENMANSHIP SURVEYS, 146, 162,

163, 164, 166; conclusions

based on, 168-173.
PHYSIOLOGICAL ELEMENTS, 19,

21, 23.

PINTNER, DR. E., 140, 185.
POSITION AND MOVEMENT, 30.
PRACTICE, INJURY REBUT/TING

FROM, 80.

PRECISION NOT DEMANDED, 73.
PRINCIPAL, supervision by, 86,

99, 131; attitude of, 115.
PRINCIPLES DEDUCED, 60-66.
PROMOTION, advantages of, 82.
PRONATION, 22, 27, 60.

INDEX

191

PSYCHOLOGY, 55.
PUPILS, when exempted, 77.
PUSH-PULL DRILL EXERCISES, 32,
62.

Q

QUALITY, measuring of, 32,
QUESTIONNAIRES, 38, 102, 121;
cities replying to, 103 ; deduc-
tions from, 108; summary of
replies to, 105, 121.

R

RATE OF TOOTING, 150.
RECTOR, Lizzm E. (Miss), 29,

76.

REDUCING FATIGUE, 50.
REMEDIAL MEASURES, 79, 156.
Revue Sdentifigue, 185.
RBXFORD, JOHN, 185.
RHYTHM, 33, 34, 35, 37, 63, 78;

instrument for measuring, 34.

SCALES: Ayres, 132, 135, 138
140; Breed and Downs, 136,
138; Freeman, 136, 140, 142;
Johnson and Stone, 135, 138;
New York Penmanship, 136,
137,140,141,152,154; Thorn-
dike, 132, 140.

SCALES, comparison of, 141; use
of, 59, 79, 110, 116, 121, 132,
134, 138,

Scraprmm, BE, E. W., 55, 185.

SENSIBILITY, muscular and tac-
tile, 48, 64.

SENSORY CONTROL IN MOVEMENT,
48.

SHAW, LENA A., 108, 185.

SHOUSE, J. B,, 113, 185.

SIZE IN WRITING, 57, 63; exag-
geration of, 75; significance
of, 56, 74.

SLANT, lack of uniformity in,
38, 39; natural, 38.

SLOPE OF WRITING, 39.

SPEED, 28, 30, 32, 57, 78.

STARCH, PROF. DANEBL, 43, 185.

STONE, C. R,, 51, 185.

ST. Louis, 76, 77, 82, 88, 98,
115; form stressed by, 31;
comparison with Grand Rap-
ids, 30.

ST. Loins SURVEY, 30, 115, 170.

STAGES OF WRITING, 19, 60.

STEPS OF RECITATION, 70.

SUPERVISION OF HANDWRrnNO,
99, 112; experiments in, 145-
173.

SUPERVISORS, 99; cities having,
103.

SYLLABUS, 75, 116, 117, 124.

SYSTEMS: Locker, 104; Palmer,
103, 106, 107, 116; Zajxer, *<&,
116.

TABLES, comparison of scales,
141; grade standards, 137;
median scores, 142; penman-
ship surveys, 146, 162, 163,
164, 166.

Tacoma, 87.

TACTILE SENSIBILITY, 48, 64.

192

INDEX

TAYLOR, DEEMS, review on Par-

sifal, 100.

TAYLOR, JOSEPH S., 72, 185.
TEACHING ILLITERATES, 83,
TEACHERS' MARKS, unreliability

of, 133.

TESTS, 77, 79, 86, 145, 146, 153.
THOMPSON, MARY E, (Miss),

47, 64, 78, 186.
THORNOTKE, E. L., 78, 81, 97,

132, 134, 138, 140.
THORNDIKE SCALE, 132, 140.
TlMEJ ELEMENT IN WRITING, 80,

96, 98.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION, 174-178.

u

UNCONSCIOUS IMITATION, 43, 46,

47; problem on, 43, 64.
UNIFORM STYLE, 38.

VERTICAL WRITERS, 22, 37, 40.
VISUAL IMAGES, 42, 47.
VISUAL MEMORY, 33.
VOLUNTARY MOVEMENT, 41.

W

WALKER, H. C., 82, 186.
WEST, PAUL V., 35, 186.
WHIPPLB, GUY M., 80, 186.

WHOLE-ARM MOVEMENT, 29, 31,
60, 62, 75.

WILSON, G. M., 186.

WITHAM, E. C., 186.

WRITING, an index, 50; auto-
matic, 43, 49, 57; affected
by external factors, 67, 69;
completed habit of, 21 ; copy,
33, 46, 47, 64, 71 ; difficulties,
20; factors in, 97; finger, 25,
33; incoordinated* 59; indi-
viduality in, 60; judged on
general impression, 55; lesson
in, 70; mature, 35; move-
ment, 39; pathological, 55;
physiological aspect of, 49;
psychology of, 41; practice
of, 19; sex differences in, 59,
66, 79; stages of, 19, 60; time
element in, 80, 96, 98; unsuc-
cessful attempts at, 49; varia-
bility in, 54.

WRITING HOSPITAL, 51.

WRIST MOVEMENT, 40, 77.

WOODWORTH, R. S., 48, 64, 186.

WRONG FORM, 51, 71.

WRKTNG LESSON, 70.

WRITERS, three groups of, 82.

ZANBR SYSTEM, 103, 116.

128408